341 Comments

• At 2008.12.09 02:48, Mark said:
  

  Hi Eric,

  Surprised your are up this late. I am very interested in Arbitrage Conspiracy.

  Questions I have:
  Have you been using it?
  If you have what is your ratio of cost to sales?

  I am a newbie and will just be getting up my first website and blog by January 1 2008. Feels like program may be to much and could loose some money easily. Would like your opinion.

  As always I value your opinion but i know decision is mine.

  Thanks

  Mark

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.09 22:12, Eric said:
    

    I’ve now posted the full review, thanks.

    [Reply]
    • At 2009.01.13 00:07, Tony said:
      

      Thanks for the perspective on the Arbitrage Conspiracy however it’s not right for me at this time. What do you recommend for someone just getting started with IM? Thanks.

      [Reply]
• At 2008.12.09 14:47, Joe said:
  

  Hi Eric,

  I’m stuck in Venezuela at the moment, I haven’t the ability to record tonight’s conference call, are you or anyone else recording it, maybe mp3′ ing and posting it? I will miss all the valuable details. I’ve been following it online since I received your email re: it.

  Thanks,
  Joe

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.13 05:55, Russ said:
    

    Hi Eric,
    I’m retired (if it can be called that) and living
    in Istanbul, Turkey. If the call is recorded,
    can it be sent via e-mail?
    Thanks
    Russ

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.09 15:34, Joe said:
  

  Hi Eric,
  Actually I will miss the conference call in it’s entirety, I don’t even have a way to call from here. Sorry, I forgot to say that in my last post.

  Thanks,
  Joe

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.09 22:13, Eric said:
    

    I don’t know, but I would guess they would post the replay. I wouldn’t worry too much about the call though… it’s mainly a sales tactic.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.09 21:52, pete said:
  

  Hi Eric, you and l both know that the money is made from the launch of this product and from affiliate sales and reviews from the insiders who where invited.
  When you think of how many newbies will be taken in and then fail, it seems a little unfair on them as they will be eaten alive in ppc. regards pete

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.09 22:14, Eric said:
    

    you’re right… Some newbies will be eaten alive, which is why I distinguished that this course is best suited for those who know the basics of PPC. On the other hand, a few motivated newbies will probably learn the right way from this course, and make millions.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.09 21:54, Richard said:
  

  Cheers for the honest review Eric

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.09 22:14, Eric said:
    

    thanks

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.09 21:56, Instant Paypal Cash said:
  

  I’m just now starting to dabble in PPC but it definitely sounds worth checking out.

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.09 22:06, Rodney said:
  

  It’s $1700 & check this out:
  This is just a warning to steer far and clear from a promotion
  going around the IM industry called The Arbitrage Conspiracy.

  I used to be heavily involved in CPA marketing and arbitrage…
  This is not an easy business, it used to be extremely profitable
  for me. I was making over $200k some months.

  I got out of it for a reason … the reason is simple … It’s too
  competitive. There are only a “finite” number of products that work
  through this strategy and 10 times out of 10, the products that DO
  work already have someone running arbitrage so then you have to
  compete with that person which lowers your profit margin.

  Multiply that times 3 - 5 people and you’re having price wars for
  pennies… Not worth the effort anymore. There are tools that you
  can use to optimize your performance and locate areas of untapped
  opportunity so be prepared for deep research before getting into
  arbitrage.

  Another issue is that you need a lump sum of cash to finance your
  PPC costs for 30 - 60 days before you get paid by the major CPA
  networks. Be prepared to have a significant sum of cash on hand to
  bankroll your exploration and research. It will likely cost you a
  good bit of money to discover areas of opportunity.

  NOW … with this guy releasing The Arbitrage Conspiracy it will
  make matters worse. More competition, lower profit margins, etc.
  When I was making good money with arbitrage back in 2005 - 2007,
  nobody knew what I was doing and I didn’t care to tell anyone about
  it either. You have to immediately question why a person
  “supposedly” making 100k per day would want to ruin it for
  themselves for the peanuts they will receive from unsuspecting
  IMers. My guess is that they came to the same conclusion I did …
  you could probably make more money selling information about
  arbitrage than you could practicing it.

  Now multiply that times the number of gurus promoting it and you
  could get a fair idea of how quickly the release of this material
  will ruin the industry.

  This is just a heads up…

  Charles Heflin
  SEO20/20

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.09 22:21, Eric said:
    

    I hadn’t heard the final price… I figured it would be over $1k and under $2k.

    I agree with some of your concerns, particularly about the increase in competition. However, I temper that concern with the following thoughts…

    I believe Aymen and his crew will NOT make more from this launch than they make from PPC. Additionally, their campaigns are clearly NOT dying… so I don’t think they are thinking they can make more selling the information than practicing it.

    He might be thinking of it as an EXTRA revenue stream with minimal work, as Aymen probably isn’t doing any of the real work on the launch.

    also I’m not so sure that the market will become saturated with super affiliates. We have worried about that for many years, with each successive product launch (Starting with Google cash, then through the dozens of others like Day Job Killer, which sold many thousands of copies). And yet in spite of the mass of PPC related product launches, the business is alive and well.

    I can attest that there are plenty of opportunities to be exploited.

    There are dozens (probably hundreds) of CPA networks to choose from.

    And beyond that, you don’t have to use CPA. You could use a CPS program, or your own product. I personally am using these techniques for some of my own stuff.

    So I’d say there’s cause for concern… but it’s not going to ruin the industry.

    [Reply]
    • At 2008.12.10 10:28, Pete Fulham said:
      

      My only comments on your reply

      Quote “I’m not so sure that the market will become saturated with super affiliates. We have worried about that for many years, with each successive product launch (Starting with Google cash, then through the dozens of others like Day Job Killer, which sold many thousands of copies). And yet in spite of the mass of PPC related product launches, the business is alive and well.”

      Is that those products sold thousands but how many people actually acted on the information or more to the point were able to act on that info. Perhaps that is why the market has not become saturated with super affiliates!

      I bought Alex Goads Affiliate Payload which was a about using cpa offers. Apart from the fact that the ebook was full of grammatical and spelling errors, most of the things they were proposing went way above what I believe I could do or afford to do at that time (and still). So I for one haven’t used the info I purchased. Still I got my money refunded.

      Now, I have a BSc in Computer studies and have worked for a blue chip company in their IT dept for 30 years so I am not new to computers and the internet (but I am a recent player in Internet Marketing (3years)). How many other people felt the same as I did, not just on that product but all the others, how much money have people wasted on not being able to use the info presented to them in these products.

      As per your review and the 3 sentences you don’t agree with ($50 dollars, setup in 24hours, no list or site etc). This all sounds like something I should be able to do. And no doubt many will be persuaded by those perceived benefits (or the psychological triggers they use). Only to find out, as you say, they will need to purchase software and memberships and it will take 12 weeks to get the complete course. It almost amounts to fraud (perhaps that’s too strong a word). But they are definitely not giving the whole truth by giving the perception to possible buyers that this is do-able in those monetary and time frames. And that is where I say; and what other ‘not the whole truth’s’ are they saying?

      I for one will not be purchasing this product as I feel that I need to grow my business (as much as I would like a magic button or silver bullet). I do not have the finances to risk, especially after being bitten (more than once [pay per click ads for free] another case in point).

      This might seem a jaded view but I think that all the newcomers to Internet Marketing should be made aware of the pitfalls, most of the Guru’s just want to make money from you any way they can, even if its selling you a product that they know you can’t or won’t use.

      If a product is suitable only for people like yourself then it should be clearly labelled that is the case (But that won’t happen because then the only people that might buy it are the ones that are promoting it)! The same goes for intermediate and Newbie products.

      How many people on your list consider themselves newbies (ie used you great course to get a website built) yet will buy into something that is too advanced (at the moment) for them?

      Thanks for the honest review

      Pete

      [Reply]
      • At 2008.12.10 12:50, David said:
        

        Great post Pete.

        —
        How he got started with a mere $50!”

        “How to get completely set up and open for business in 24 hours!”

        “How To Make Massive profits with No Website, No Product and No List”
        —

        It’s obvious that the promoters are liars.

        There are very few internet marketers with integrity.

        [Reply]
      • At 2009.10.30 01:18, rosalind said:
        

        Hi Pete,

        You did an excellent job spelling out the trenches most honest hardworking immeers fall into - time frame to get something set up including the costs vary from person to person. I for one will not be able to do so at $50 as I need to outsource it (I am not a techqie), there again, not everyone has deep pockets for upgrades like memberships and software additions. Also many would hesitate to spend more when the first is not showing results yet. Call this conservative but the internet world is a cyber space where crooks lurk.
        Bottom line, to each his own by exercising care and wisdeom when subscrbing to programes. Thank you for allowing me to share.

        [Reply]
• At 2008.12.09 22:10, Rob said:
  

  I am listening to a call right now from the people promoting this product.

  As usual it all sounds great and some big names promoting it.

  It will be interesting to see how much it sells for. My guess is $1997.

  My only dealing with CPA networks is getting rejected by Hydramedia as I mentioned Frank Kern as the person who referred me.

  Will be interesting to see how this one goes.

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.09 22:22, Eric said:
    

    Generally you just need to tweak your site to get accepted by Hydra. And there are plenty of other CPA networks to choose from.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.09 22:10, Jesucita said:
  

  Hi Eric,

  Indeed, there’s more to it than meets the eye. I value your balanced review.

  Warmly,

  Jesucita

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.09 22:23, Paul R said:
  

  Hi Eric,
  I like your read on the “conspiracy” I think is a little more complex than advertised. I listened to the whole program tonight & I know I won’t jump on it without looking at a lot of other CPA sites & buysome new darts to decide.
  Paul

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.09 22:23, Irene said:
  

  Hi Eric,
  Thanks for your honesty and assessment! I really appreciate it.
  Blessings,
  Irene

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.09 22:25, George said:
  

  Eric,

  Nice review this type of system has been around for awhile and many have profited but there is a learning curve and you need to be very organized and marketing savy. Think for a moment you will have all these people buying this course going to the same CPa’s and competing against one another. I like the fact you mentioned some honest points. Nice to see that. http://www.thetruthonmlm.com

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.09 22:25, Al said:
  

  I think Charles Heflin said it best (See post above)

  Al

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.09 22:28, Jon said:
  

  Eric, certainly appreciate the honest review. When I hear “arbitrage” I automatically think of Alex Goad and Google Payload which was the biggest unsupported pile of crap ever pushed, but at least I got a refund on that.

  As others have mentioned, it almost goes without saying that you are going to have to bankroll a sizeable chunk of this yourself for at least 90 days, and I venture to say there are *zero* newbies who could do that and perhaps not even a lot of veteran IM’ers who could or would be willing to take that kind of risk.

  Very insightful comments from Charles above, and I think he nailed it — introducting this many new people to the same technique is going to reduce the revenues of an adsense click on a baloney ad.

  I might be kicking myself a year from now by not jumping onboard, but at least I won’t be staring into a blank wallet AND kicking myself if I *do* jump onboard right now.

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 00:50, Eric said:
    

    Yes, you would need to bankroll your own PPC campaigns (on a credit card) unless you have someone else paying for it. But it IS possible to start small and SCALE it. Remember, that’s part of the 3 step formula I learned from Kris Jones:

    1) find something that works
    2) replicate it
    3) scale it

    You don’t jump to step 2 and 3 until you’re making money. In other words, you’re not going to start spending $100k a day on clicks as a newbie. Maybe you would start with $10/day or $100/day, and when you make that profitable you scale it to the next step up.

    So I just want to clarify that it is possible to start small. But you do need to be willing to risk a little capital to learn how to make a campaign profitable, and then you need to be willing to risk successively more as you move up the rungs. But as you spend more with this system, your risk actually decreases, because the campaign is proven before you start putting a lot of money into it.

    This course is best suited for anyone who understands the above concept.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.09 22:33, Kenneth Washington said:
  

  I have to agree with Charles.

  The only reason why this technique is being released after the creator has milked it for millions is that it’s no longer profitable to continue doing it.

  Think of all the Big Ticket $1497+ packages that have been released during the past few years (Around this same time.) How many people can say that the idea worked or continues to work for them to this day?

  There’s no way someone who claims to be making over $100k a day from PPC marketing would ever release those details, I don’t care how nice of a guy he is.

  The economy right now stinks. People are loosing their jobs left and right. I think it is in mighty poor taste to be releasing a product at this price now. It will do nothing but get a whole lot of people who don’t have the money to go for a dream of fortune, only to be disappointed down the road.

  I myself will be making a SPAM filter for my Gmail account to delete all email with the text (Arbitrage Conspiracy) anywhere in the subject or body, so I don’t even have to see the flood of promotions from gurus who are only out to make a quick $497 or more in commission.

  Thanks Eric for allowing me to vent.

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 00:53, Eric said:
    

    With all due respect Kenneth, I don’t think that’s the case this time. You can question their motives all you want, that’s fine. I knew it would be a sore spot, which is why I addressed it in the review. But their business is NOT dying currently. It’s thriving and growing.

    [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.12 16:13, Duane said:
    

    Eric (& Ken)
    All good posts. I’m just not ready for it right now. Eric, thanks for the honest review.
    I don’t believe it’s fraud, but should be more honest in revealing what’s involved.

    Ken, please be cautious about calling something SPAM just because you don’t like it. Chances are you opted into their lists at some point and calling mail from optin lists spam will ruin it for many legitimate internet marketers who all make sure they do NOT send email to anyone without a previous “click to confirm”

    All you have to do is find their opt-out link at the bottom of the email and click that. Same goes for safe lists & list-builders - if you sign up for those, you are AGREEING to receive email promotions. I know you only want to “mark them” as spam, but I’m pretty sure that Google (gmail owner) sends all kinds of info based on all your actions in the account (read their privacy policy), so what this is doing, in effect, is telling Google stats gathering robots to accuse the sender of spam, which is unfair if you opted in to their lists. Just UNSUBSCRIBE from them. One way to delete them in Gmail is to STAR them, then click “select all starred” & delete.

    Just a friendly tip that will save you in the future, also, when you want to build your list legitimately without false spam accusers ruining your efforts & the whole internet marketing business in jeopardy.
    Duane

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.09 22:52, Jaisne Blue Sexton said:
  

  Once again, Eric, you’ve fooled people. Well, the gullible ones at least. Everyone wants to make lots money, and without real work. Actually, I’ll correct myself. They think that buying all these ‘products’ and ’services’ and following the half-*ssed guidelines is work.

  You’ve got a giant mailing list and a large following of blog readers, perfect patsies to exploit. You’ve done it time and again and I see them thanking you in the comments. Apparently there is no shortage of lazy people looking to get rich. No doubt many of them are probably people just trying to get ahead, and as a result are ripe for the exploitation you and your friends put them through on a regular basis.

  And for the people who are going to rip this post - which he will post because he is secure enough to have people disagree with him publicly - how many ebooks, seminars, products and services have you all bought in the last year or two? How much has you spent on these various programs? Honestly now, have any of them worked? Have you earned more than you’ve put out? For most of you, the answers will not be the ones you’d like them to be.

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 00:57, Eric said:
    

    I can guarantee you Jaisne that I will make LESS commissions than my peers who don’t offer any criticism of the product. I wrote what I feel is a fair review, with the best interest of my readers in mind. Like I said, those who are looking for the lazy method (24 hours, no website) should not buy this course.

    Those who take their business seriously can profit from it. The methods are real, and some people will profit from buying the course. Sure, some people won’t profit from it… but some will. I have NEVER seen a PPC course of this caliber, and it will revolutionize some peoples’ businesses.

    [Reply]
    • At 2008.12.10 15:45, Scott said:
      

      Funny - I was just about to write you (Eric) saying you had a long-term subscriber, after seeing the honest and straightforward review you published.

      I won’t be purchasing the product, and some get-rick-quick people will, which is sad. But, how Jaisne can hold you in anything but the highest regard for your integrity is beyond me.

      [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 13:00, David said:
    

    I’m sorry for the newbies and strugglers who are easily deceived by slick rip-off sales copy.

    [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 13:58, Eileen said:
    

    I know that there are some unscrupulous promoters out there, because I have been a victim of a few scams myself. However, what catches my attention is the sheer negativity of some posters. With a negative attitude like that you cannot expect much success. You can jump from one opportunity to another and never succeed at any. The main criteria is to focus on what you’re doing, stick with it, work it and chances are good you will do well. By just giving up and complaining and playing the victim card, success will continue to elude you. No one says you have to do the arbitage course and I think, to his credit,Eric did a very good review of it. Obviously,it’s probably not right for many of us. The main thing is as Eric said, “Stop buying stuff.” Work on what you are doing presently and grow it. Sometimes we don’t see the potential success under our very noses and keep looking out there for that elusive silver bullet that’s going to make us rich.
    Merry Christmas to everyone and I wish you all much success and abundance in the New Year.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.09 22:56, Chip said:
  

  Thanks for your honesty. Much appreciated from a “newbie”.

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.09 22:57, Michael “The Copy Polisher” Millman said:
  

  Thanks for your honest assessment, Eric.

  I listened to the call as well, and although it was highly
  touted as being a content rich call that one should take
  copious notes from, I heard very little that could be truly
  considered valuable content or insights that could be put
  into action.

  Honestly, I observed it as another incestuous round of
  mutual admiration and puffery from the biggest affiliates
  that stand to profit handsomely by funneling their lists
  into the deal.

  The questions were mostly lobbed softballs, and most of
  the time Aymen’s answers were very vague or redirected
  to something mildly related to the question, with no real
  useful specifics being offered.

  I do believe Aymen has plenty to share and teach, and I
  also believe very few people will actually be able to put
  the info into action and create anywhere near the same
  level of results.

  I hope more people who do acquire the product are able
  to make it work than what I’m imagining.

  @MichaelMillman ~ Twitter

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 01:03, Eric said:
    

    I was not on the call, but I assumed it would be a pitch fest, which is why I didn’t mention it in my email. But just because they are pitching it with hype doesn’t mean the course itself is bad.

    I assure you Aymen does have plenty to share and teach.

    I agree with your hope that the people who buy this course will follow through and put it into action. The same can be said about virtually all “make money” infoproducts.

    Again I believe it is most suitable for those who understand PPC… and I’ll add to that:

    Those who have a decent technical aptitude will also be at a great advantage. In other words, if you’re comfortable with online research tools and marketing software/scripts, you stand a better chance of truly thriving with their methods.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.09 22:58, Charles said:
  

  Hi Eric,
  Thanks for being outright blunt. Truly appreciated. I will buy through your link if the starting fees is 50$ (same what aymen started with). Ha just joking.

  Thanks Eric,

  Warm Regards
  Charles.

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.09 23:00, Jaisne Blue Sexton said:
  

  By the way, bringing ‘christianity’ into this is just nasty and disgusting. This sort of scamming and scam bait is called AFFINITY FRAUD. I know you profess being a really great christian and all, and now you’ve mentioned this about these people, but you don’t know the first thing about being a good one because good people don’t rip off other people no matter what their religion is, or if they don’t have one at all. Stop handing out koolaid and start the new year by NOT continuing with your scamming and fraudulent behaviour.

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 01:12, Eric said:
    

    Jaisne, who’s drinking the koolaid? I happen to know that there is a fairly big contingency of Christians on my list who are keenly interested in running their businesses with integrity. I also know that not everyone share’s my beliefs, which is why I rarely make faith-based matters the focus of my newsletter. And in this case, I merely mentioned it briefly. And I only mentioned it because I was sincerely impressed with this man’s faith who I met. My brother in law was with me at the event, and he can attest to the fact that I went back to my seat after talking to this man and we talked about how cool this guy’s integrity was. I could give very specific examples, but I will respect his privacy.

    The makers of the course are obviously not touting it in any religious way, and neither am I. But I am very concerned about the ability to use cutting edge tactics with integrity, as I know some of my readers are concerned about it. I am pretty much 100% sure that nobody is going to buy the course just because I mentioned a Christian in my review.

    I don’t mind criticism, but calling me fraud is over the line. If you think I’m a scammer, by all means don’t read my newsletter.

    I know what affinity fraud is, and I’ve been a victim of “Christian” scam artists. But just because scam artists abound that doesn’t mean we should keep our faith out of the marketplace.

    [Reply]
    • At 2008.12.15 00:50, julie said:
      

      HI Eric,
      I haven’t been here for awhile and saw your review on this product. I have bought many get rich quick products that once you get them they are just rehashed material. The only reason I am posting is because of the above note from Jasine. Althoug I do not agree with her approach, I have got to tell you that I was not interested in the product at all until you mentioned the guy was a Christian and that did make me want to find out more about the product and maybe buy it because of your comment. Now that I have read more, I honestly believe that it looks like many other of the junk I have bought. You said in the above post that he had integrity, that may be true but is he really a Jesus following, Christ honoring believer? I guess I am a little dishearted also that you said that but I do like you alot so don’t get me wrong. Take care, Julie

      [Reply]
• At 2008.12.09 23:07, Chris said:
  

  Eric, nothing against you, but something about this launch just doesn’t smell right.

  If I were making 100K a day (over $36 million a year), I’d keep that to myself and a few friends. I certainly wouldn’t sell it for relative peanuts and create competition for myself.

  Come on, $36 million is NBA star income.

  Even if they make $3 million from this launch (which I doubt after paying commissions), that’s only a month’s current income to them.

  Why go to the trouble of making a product about it?

  And why aren’t some of those gurus paying them off to keep the secrets within the group?

  When was the last time that gang got together because they wanted to help us out? Please.

  Either the 100K figure is exaggerated, or they are leaving things out of the course to minimize competition, or they found something else even more lucrative to move on to once their students flood into this.

  I sat through the whole call and did not hear much actual info being given.

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 01:28, Eric said:
    

    If I were Aymen, I probably wouldn’t bother teaching it. But then again, I do make good money on the internet, and I spend a considerable amount of time teaching it… mostly for free!

    So again, we can question the motives all we want, but that doesn’t negate the validity of the methods.

    And as I mentioned in the review… Aymen has admitted an additional ulterior motive: he’s starting a CPA network. Can he make more money with an army of super affiliates using his methods and him taking a small cut? Probably.

    I also think that most of my readers are vastly underestimating the sizeof the worldwide CPA business.

    I heard about one CPA network that has thousands of affiliates making over $100k/year. And that’s just one network.

    I don’t think a couple thousand new players are not going to saturate this business. In spite of the economy, the internet and its reach are only growing.

    [Reply]
    • At 2008.12.10 04:50, Andrew said:
      

      Eric, In your reply you say “I do make good money on the internet, and I spend a considerable amount of time teaching it… mostly for free!”

      I won’t doubt that you put considerable effort into your lessons, and that they are helping many people.

      However, I think it’s a little disingenuous (although not untrue) to wave the “for free” flag because the last time I looked there were an awful lot of recommendations after each lesson that included affiliate links, from which I have little doubt you are now deriving a healthy passive income. I also checked out the stats just after you launched your ‘free lessons’ and the hits on ericstips.com had gone up by a factor of 20 in a matter of days, as you will be well aware. Congratulations on such a successful viral promotion because I have little doubt that many people have referred their friends to your site to read your lessons, and so it will continue.

      Now I know you’re not charging, so in that sense the lessons are indeed “for free”, but as I said I do think it’s a little disingeuous to wave that particular flag in a manner that deliberately implies your motives to be purely philanthropic, and that you are making nothing from the lessons, because that simply isn’t true.

      I will continue to read your blog, not least because your reviews include fact to go with the hype and I like to be kept informed, but I must confess that (like some others here) I am tiring a little of the gurus who seemingly all get together as pals and decide how best to divide up the spoils.

      I think you gave the best lesson of all so far for IM success in your review though:
      1) Find something that works;
      2) Repeat.

      The only thing I would add - and that the gurus never seem to mention - is that very few of them actually do all the work themselves, much of it is outsourced because otherwise step 2 isn’t scalable.

      Oh and that if you can devise something under point 1 that generates a recurring monthly income (however small) and is viral (i.e. it grows by itself) then that is the ultimate recipe for long-term success. I’ve not seen any guru mention that detail though!

      [Reply]
      • At 2008.12.10 10:54, Eric said:
        

        Andrew… I’m providing information for free that I could easily be selling (and I probably will sell it some day). When people buy a course, they will generally find that it too contains plenty of affiliate links and backend monetization, even though they PAID for the product. So essentially I’m giving away the front end for free, and monetizing the back end.

        Also, this is NOT by any means the most profibale use of my time. While it is clearly not a purely philanthropic endeavor, I AM doing it because I want to help people.

        I never said I was making nothing from the lessons, or attempted to imply that it was solely philanthropic. I’ve made some backend income from them, and I will repackage and monetize them in other ways in the future.

        But…

        Through my experience, I’ve learned that I make a lot LESS money by giving away so much free content and catering to newbies who don’t want to spend any money.

        Don’t get me wrong, giving away free content IS a good business model. But whether you believe it or not, I am intentionally sacrificing profits by catering to those who don’t want to spend money.

        So when I say “mostly for free”, I guess its a matter of my own perspective. I feel like I’m doing it for free, because I don’t get paid directly for it, and there are ways I could be using my time to make more money.

        And the reason I mentioned it was to help explain why someone like Aymen might do something that was not the most profitable use of his time.

        [Reply]
        • At 2008.12.10 12:07, David said:
          

          Hi Eric

          I rarely reply to posts on your blog but felt the need to at this point. I must agree with you on this.

          You provide information (for free) that requires a product or service. Everyone knows that they will need to purchase the service in order to conduct business on the internet. Web hosting is a good example. I have tried several web hosting services and am happiest with your host gator recommendation.

          If you have an affiliate link it would be foolish NOT to include it since it then saves newbies from searching through the search results to find a host. they are, of course, free to do so if they choose to spend the time.

          [Reply]
          • At 2008.12.10 13:10, Craig Hesser said:
            

            Hello Eric,

            I agree in principle with what David had to say, and I think it’s important to point out that all the services and products that are offered publicly will cost the buyer the same amount of money, whether a commission goes to you, Eric, or to John Paul Jones, or to me, or to the original vendor/manufacturer. The sales price is (generally) fixed. Why worry about who gets a cut? That’s looking at the wrong end of the pipe. Do you complain that your local independent Xerox dealer gets a percentage from each industrial-strength copier he sells, and go to somebody else because of it. Of course not. Maybe to a different manufacturer, but not a different vendor. The principle is the same.
        • At 2008.12.11 09:44, Andrew said:
          

          Eric,

          I think I vaguely recall you saying something in an email (I’ll try to find it) to your list about giving up IM when you first started posting these lessons. I may be mistaken though, and I apologise now if I am. Regardless…

          As you say though, whilst writing all these lessons you are indeed also preparing a truely awesome course for selling at some stage in the future: all you’ll need to do is take the free content down, repackage it into a printed manual and a couple of DVDs, and sell it for …well, quite a bit probably, and of course you’ve already got a huge bunch of testimonials in the blog comments.

          Meanwhile you are, through the subscribers, presumably building a massive list of potential IM customers to whom you can sell more advanced products later in the course, just as soon as you have given them the necessary skills to use them. And of course, perhaps even more importantly, all of the marketers you are currently training up will make great affiliates for selling the above course when it’s ready.

          It’s a great business model and, if I’ve guessed it right, I hope it’s something that you will share with everybody in a later lesson.

          This Arbitrage Conspiracy recommendation worries me though because if people are following your lessons - and if they are then I’m sure they are getting a good grounding in something that *will* work and *will* make them money, with minimal financial risk - then surely it’s best if they focus 100% on that? Isn’t the biggest mistake that most people make when getting started in IM (apart from failing to put their learning into practice!) simply that of trying to do too many things at once, with the result that they do none of them properly and often fail completely in their new endeavour as a result?

          [Reply]
          • At 2008.12.11 09:57, Eric said:
            

            I like this post a lot better than your last one, because you are correct on virtually all counts…

            -I am still planning on getting out of the IM business in the “not to distant” future.

            - I am still working on the course

            -I probably will repackage it and sell it, and yes I have hundreds of testimonials

            -Trying to do too many things at once is a bad thing for new internet marketers. As I mention in Lesson #4, there are many good ways of making money online but you need to choose ONE to start with. And again, that’s why I’ve said that this course is not best suited for newbies. But what you may or may not realize is that there are a lot of intermediate and high level marketers on my subscriber list who can benefit greatly from the knowledge contained within this course. Additionally, a big percent of my readers are ALREADY using PPC… so it wouldn’t be taking away their focus from anything, it would just show them how to be better at what they’re already doing.
          • At 2008.12.11 14:05, Michaela said:
            

            Hi!
            Just want to clarify an idea.
            Everybody is doing IM to gain money; just to hope that this statement is not true makes me think that YOU AREN’T THINKING AS A MARKETER.

            It is just a problem to choosing the method to do it. Among the successful Internet Marketers, Eric is the most honest, his method to give something of a big, really big value FREE, and at the back end he makes some money (which buy the way, is optional for you to buy it) it is a good, modest, honest idea, and tell me volumes about Eric. He is not doing something which is not appropriate, or abusive, he is just a good marketer (I wish all the “gurus” be like him, but unfortunately they are not). His method is 100% OK with me.

            About AC, there are a lot of thinks which worries me as well, but I thing we will find some answers on the launch.
            1)Their motivation will become clear. If it is true that they make as much as they said, if it is true that they want to create a CPA and need to have a crowd, if it is true that they want to “give back”, then they will put a price which is extremely low, or will get the course free.
            2)If they will put a high amount for the course, in this moment of our economy, one of the presumptions from point 1) is false. In this case I suspect they don’t make as much money as they pretend. And they aren’t very good marketers yet, they are too young and inexperienced, not the type of persons I want to learn from.
            3)Also, the secrecy is worrying me, they react like they have something to hide, maybe I am wrong on this, maybe is just their culture thinking which is obvious different then our culture in States.

            Michaela
          • At 2008.12.31 13:20, Ron Berg said:
            

            Hi Eric:

            I’m new to this blog and am going thru your courses.

            I have also signed up for AC, which also offers a Money Back Guarantee after finishing the course (in addition to the 30 day guarantee) if you are not satisfied plus $500 for your trouble. Seems like they are very confident that most will be satisfied.

            My question (or concern) is: Why are you planning to leave IM? I am hopeful that it’s not because it is too much work, or the returns are too low.

            And of course, where will you be spending your time after leaving IM?

            Thanks,
            Ron
          • At 2008.12.31 18:44, Eric said:
            

            Ron, I’ll most likely be devoting more time to missions work, and audio/video productions, which I enjoy.

            IM can be a lot of work, but no that’s not why I’d leave it. It’s because it has been so lucrative that I am able to focus now on my other passions.

            Also, when I say I’m leaving IM… I’m primarily talking about leaving the “guru” business and getting out of the public eye. There are aspects of my online business that would probably remain running on autopilot or I would get others to run it for me. Or I might just sell those parts of it… I’m not sure yet.
    • At 2008.12.10 19:09, Nick said:
      

      Eric, think about this for a moment.

      Why teach this? Because of step 3): Scale it out.

      And that’s tough to do without qualified people.

      It’s a pretty common technique esp. in the upper echelons of business, actually. Find something that works, replicate it (teach it), then scale it out (find people who can work the process).

      Real information, a $~2,000 barrier to entry, limited supply, and a real opportunity.

      What better way to screen potential candidates for a multi-billion dollar organization?

      CPA is simply where marketing is headed, as you point out.

      [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 12:47, Mike Gates said:
    

    Good point Chris - “When was the last time that gang got together because they wanted to help us out? Please.”

    Their selling you all their secrets because they want to give back, to help others out. I’m sorry but I don’t buy it. I have become very skeptical of the big time internet marketers over the last few years and have removed myself from most of their lists.

    I still follow Eric because he is honest and a good guy, and provides quality content instead of sales pitch, after sales pitch.

    Anyone working with PP better be prepared to either spend a lot of money, or spend a lot if time testing ads, landing pages, products etc.

    I’m not saying this product is not good and won’t work for some, but for the price and the cost you will need to pay for PPC, you better be willing to risk a lot of money.

    I always pass on these high cost, hyped up product launches - the gurus have been made me too skeptical to buy most of their products.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.09 23:09, Dale said:
  

  I was able to get in on the call, actually I am still listening. While I am very interested, I do wish that the calls and webinars such as this, which are essentially promotional only, could be shortened.

  My time is limited as it is. I have to squeeze in any available time after my full-time job to try to learn and work on this online venture I so want to succeed at. Therefore, a two hour promotional call essentially steals valuable time away from me.

  I do not mean to sound harsh or unappreciative, but it is now time for me to turn in for the night in order to get up for my day job tomorrow, and I was not able to accomplish any of the tasks I had planned because the call took twice as long as expected.

  I apologize for my rambling, but I am tired, stressed, and only ask that those who have already become a success would take into consideration that not all of us have an independent or flexible schedule. Essentially, my time belongs to someone else, but hopefully not for too much longer.

  Again, I do appreciate the help and information. I just think it could have been condensed a little better.

  Have a good evening,
  Dale

  P.S. This was not directed at you, Eric.

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 15:43, David Day said:
    

    I totally agree with you about wasting time. I have a mirror image of your life. The call was out of hand and way to long. There was no value to me. It was a hyped up promotion and I can say that I got nothing accomplished yesterday and stayed up way past my bedtime. The call could have been done in half the amount of time and I would have been fine with that. So Dale it’s ok to ramble because I feel the same way.

    To our success
    David Day

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.09 23:11, Ron said:
  

  Hi,
  Two salesmen were sent to the Congo to sell shoes. One came back and said, “there’s no market for shoes here - the people are all barefoot there.”
  The next guy comes back and says, “Wow! What a market…we can sell shoes to almost everyone…cause nobody’s got shoes there!”

  I think it’s important to check things out before jumping in. At the same time - selling something short as a result of fear or whatever ain’t that brilliant either. I don’t know at this point whether this Arbitrage thing is right for me - but if they offer a guarantee I think I’d like to see what I can do with it.

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 01:29, Eric said:
    

    Nice analogy Ron!

    [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 07:33, Brigitta said:
    

    Hi Ron - I love your analogy about the Congo - and as always - it depends on what shoes you’ve got for sale. People in Congo will buy maybe cheap sandals- but not Manolo Blanik like Carrie Bradshaw (In Sex in the City) for $550/a pair- or maybe the few corrupt leaders of the country will buy a few pairs- the others simply have NO CASH. Will you enter a HUGE Market like the Congo with all its market-entry cost for a 10 pair of Blanik potential or 5000 sandals?

    I bought the Affiliate Payload of Saj P + Alex Goad which - by the way - is a good training - and I studied it carefully. I did NOT ask for a refund, since the info provided therein was useful in MANY other sections of research and marketing, that I thought it’s WELL worth the money- I can use this in many other campaigns etc…. and those tactics were never spelled out as clearly+honestly and good as in many OTHER programs I bought for more money!

    But at this moment in my IM career I decided not to follow-up with the program - for the same reason I don’t go to the casino (unless it’s for fun and lose 50 bucks + get free drinks for that!); you have to have PLAY-money to do CPA - and if you’re not tech-savvy enough to flip-up a site within 10 minutes - you’ll spend many hours - or money on outsourcing - for campaigns that just don’t make profit. Even Saj P. admits that only 3 out of 10 campaigns “make” it.

    Admittedly, this is better chances than roulette grants you - but imagine your frustration level when you spend all those hours + money for NADA !!

    On the other hand - if you can afford the program - go ahead and get in - as it certainly pays off to get all this top notch knowledge in PPC - you can use it for ANYTHING - as Eric says!!

    Or you can still buy Affiliate Payload and spend those 2k on trial+error with Google ! It will get you through the initial weeks - for sure!!

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.09 23:14, Brent said:
  

  Seems like there will be a lot of
  product sales, but what amount of support
  will be offered? Enjoy all you comments.

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 01:31, Eric said:
    

    I have no idea what the support will be like. If it’s like most of these launches, it will be chaotic for the first couple weeks because they were unprepared (even though these guys like Brad have done it several times)… then they will hire a bunch of people and staff up. And after a month or two the support will be good. Hopefully they will learn from past launches and staff up ahead of time

    [Reply]
    • At 2008.12.10 19:12, Nick said:
      

      Yep, right after they fix the server crash :->

      [Reply]
• At 2008.12.09 23:23, Jack Sinclair said:
  

  Eric,

  Thanks for coming clean on who this is made for, and for offering a bonus for our launch.

  Cheers,

  Jack Sinclair

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.09 23:30, Erv said:
  

  Hi Eric,

  You are one of the very few, and maybe the only, Internet marketer I trust. Thanks for the helpful review.

  Erv

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.09 23:30, PK said:
  

  From what you are saying, this is another chance for those already making money to make more money, and those who are trying to get started will not benefit. I am sick of that modus operandi. It seems the gurus are greedy with a motto of “more money”, and “giving back” means selling secrets at a high price to those who can afford it. This review and the comments are discouraging.

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 01:44, Eric said:
    

    I would guess that a newbie with the means and the motivation can use this course to start from square one. I don’t know what level of support they will provide for newbies. Obviously at the Vegas event, they basically skipped the newbie section because everyone there was a successful internet marketer already.

    Since they’re marketing it so heavily TO newbies, I can only assume they will be starting with the basics before jumping into the real methods.

    But the reason I can’t really recommend it for newbies is because I’ve been in this business long enough to know that MOST newbies will lack the motivation and (perceived lack of) finances to carry any plan to completion. And because of that, I think a lot of newbies will be wasting money. If they’re going to waste money on something they’re not going to use, they might as well waste a smaller amount.

    So it’s not so much that newbies CAN’T benefit from the course. They can. It’s more a matter that they WON’T benefit because they’ll fall through the cracks like 95% of newbies do before making their first dollar online.

    On the flipside, someone who has already made their first dollar with PPC is in a totally different place than the average newbie. Although they are only one step ahead of the rank beginners, they are lightyears ahead in their liklihood of being able to implement stuff.

    So in a way, I am totally stereotyping “newbies” in my review, in an effort to screen out those who won’t be able to handle the course.

    If you’re not a “stereotypical” newbie, you’ll know it. You’ll have the vision to succeed with the program, and you should try it.

    [Reply]
    • At 2009.01.05 12:31, Rudy said:
      

      Eric…. I joined your mailing list about a couple of weeks ago and I have read the various comments made by you and others and of course the lessons. I definitely do appreciate them as I do like to hear from both sides knowing in the end that is still my choice to proceed with something or not.

      As a “newbie” in internet marketing, but one who has many years in IT and very computer literate, what “should” a newbie waste his money on (just kidding) to begin their involvement in Internet Marketing.

      While I may have the necessary funds to do AC, I personally like to set very realistics goals in the beginning, be successful at obtaining those goals, gain the confidence and the knowledge from reaching those early goals, and then develop harder goals. As you say at times… scale…

      Thanks for your time….

      [Reply]
• At 2008.12.09 23:31, Richard said:
  

  hey Eric thanks again for yet again another great review! I just got finished listening to the call and I can say it was probably a great waste of time to listen to all of these gurus hype up this product and product launch, and yet the calling of life for Aymen is to give back, but yet the price is in the thousands! My belief is that if they truly wanted to give back they would not price the course so high! AS MY BELIEF IS THAT WHEN AYMEN STARTED HE USED HIS LAST $50 and had his father buy his computer with 3 months of his salary!
  I apologize if this seems a little skeptical but I couldn’t be farther from the truth to say that people who put together launches like this make me sick! I myself have spent thousands on sales materials and informational material to help myself to make more money! And some have worked and some have not, but to justify these prices are just ridiculous!
  Especially living in these times of economic stress in a global economic depression or recession.
  My hopes are that someone with integrity will come forward and learn these strategies that are making mr. Aymen 50k a day and design a newbie course that is not priced so highly so those who are not so successful can profit as well!
  Thanks once again for your great review!

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 01:55, Eric said:
    

    Will these techniques be made available at “newbie” prices someday? Maybe, maybe not.

    If it runs the life cycle of most “secret information” in this business, it will be available in some form or another at a cheaper price at some point in the future.

    One question is… will that information be on the cutting edge at that time? Maybe, but probably not.

    My belief is that if you’re able to get TO the bleeding edge… you’ll have a better chance of staying there, simply by adapting. But if you’re constantly CHASING the bleeding edge with old information, you may never get there.

    I will tell you that this course is absolutely not the equivilent of some ebook, nor will its content EVER fit into a simple ebook.

    I was lucky enough to get a copy of the powerpoint presentation from the Vegas event, and it contains 164 pages of amazing content.

    And those are just the bullet points, and that’s just a scaled down version of the full course.

    I would have paid thousands of dollars for the powerpoint if I had to.

    When you consider the price of an average PPC ebook to be $47 - $97…

    This information is easily 100X more potent, and thus I think the price is justified.

    Also I see a paradox within the complaints in these comments.

    On the one hand, people think that this information is going to be too widely disbursed and flood the market.

    On the other hand, people think that this information should be sold for under $100.

    But the higher price point will naturally mean fewer customers.

    [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 06:08, Raul said:
    

    Yah!, your right, but don’t make yourself sick over this stuff, because it’s more of the same and something that you and I haven’t already heard.
    This for the most part is not for newbies, given the price and experience you need, unless you can sit in a classroom with them for hours and weeks until you know what your doing and be advise on each campaign until your successful. And we know that’s not going to happen.
    But, it’s up to each person to check it out or not to check it out for themselves.

    Raul

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.09 23:33, Michael Rytter said:
  

  There is plenty of room on the internet for everybody in EVERY arena….the net is still in its’ infancy! Saturation is at least a couple hundred years off yet!

  I sell WOOD on the internet…Imagine….WOOD!
  Full time! A few short years ago, we were desperate. Our salesperson/partner had left, taking his contact/customer list with him. He wasn’t doing anything wrong. It was his list. We had an argument, he decided to leave. (He was our entire sales dept, my wife and I were the labour end of things…big outfit huh!:-)

  We were going under. FAST. We had major overhead…sawmill and shop equipment loans, mortgages etc.

  One evening my wife stumbled over this beautiful guitar blank we had leaning against the wall in our home office for about the 20th time. She decided that was enough… she was going to put that blank on Ebay. I laughed at her! (We had never bought OR sold ANYTHING online before.) When that curly maple guitar blank sold as fast as it did for as much as it did…..we never looked back! We started listing our wood like crazy!

  Profitable on the net from DAY ONE, six years ago! Yet, seven years ago, if someone had told me I could sell wood on the internet, I would have called them crazy and had the men in white coats take them away (For their own safety of course!

  The internet has levelled the marketplace. A few short years ago, only the biggest players with huge budgets could have a global presence, via prohibitively expensive media such as T.V and print.

  Today the little Mom and Pop shop, (or even just Mom or just Pop!) can have that same global presence.

  And even the big players want or help! (To get traffic for them!)

  Anyway, I digress…as USUAL! Love hearing my self type! LOL. Hey Eric…please tell me who cuts your hair. (I just want to make sure I don’t go there by accident! LOL!)

  Mike

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 01:56, Eric said:
    

    Thanks Mike.

    Haha actually my sister in law cuts it, but she is finishing hair school now and has improved drastically!

    [Reply]
    • At 2008.12.10 10:48, Deborah said:
      

      Eric,

      I happen to like your haircut. When I first saw your gravatar photo with the shorter hair, I didn’t think it was you. I had to pull up a photo with the longer hair and do a side-by-side comparison. I think it makes you look younger and more innocent. I also prefer the cleaner, closely trimmed facial hair. Anyway, it’s your choice, but I think your sister-in-law did a fine job.

      Deborah

      [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 08:32, Sabrina O'Malone said:
    

    Mike,

    LOVING the shout out for the “Mom and Pop” businesses on the net! What a wonderful story, I’m going to check out your website and see what else you’ve heard yourself type!

    -Sabrina

    [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 11:40, Ron said:
    

    Hi Mike,

    Congrats on winning right out of the gate! That is not typically what happens.

    I’ve been knocked down a time or two but, that doesn’t really matter - it’s getting up again that counts. Fact is, I’ve learned from every mistake I’ve made both online and off. Back in 1981 I had a successful mail order business that I sold in 1996. Talk about expenses … phone bill $2500 a month, printing costs, $3000 a month, shipping and postage easily $5000 a month - still I made a good profit every month. The expenses to run an online business pale in comparison. I think a lot of people want it easy instead of difficult. If you want something in life … know that it is within your power to get it … work hard everyday to get it. That’s as simple as it is.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.09 23:37, Robert said:
  

  good evening to all, As usual I was at work today, in the call center that I work in doing the best I could to read the arbitrage pdf doc I received earlier. I an not exactly a newbie to ppc having gotten google slapped on a product launch of google ambush, and to me the report seems to have alot to offer, as a different tactic to make some serious cash. Of course when the product rolls out of the lab, they all have a great deal of hook and promise. I am intrigued that this way of making money is available. I have been scouring the internet and getting so much information on ways to turn a profit. I just want to find one thing that I can focus on that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg to work at.
  I didn’t mention it until now but at the time of my lunch break my boss told me to come in to a meeting with the other big boss. to make a long story short today was probably my last day. Ouch that rally hurts. I have 3 kids and by 9 month old baby is in the hospital in Phoenix awaiting heart surgery on the 17 th.
  I look at this as a timing issue and hopefully I can rise above this adversity. I don’t want another damn job, I want to make a living on the internet, I see others doing it and I have tried to promote the big boys affiliate products only to notice that I didn’t get 1 conversion off of their own landing page which they provided for the affiliates. I guess it was the luck of the draw. I had a # 3 adwords ad and had over 90 clicks in 2 days. So now I am working on the free traffic thing.
  Times are desperate, and I don’t have alot of cash to go plunking down on either so I guess I will do the poor mans version of working to get traffic happening on squidoo and the like. Also , I have heard that using article submission to the like of 4000 directories increases the backlinks and increases your google ranking as well. anyone who could confirm that I would appreciate hearing any confirmations. Wish me luck on being able to earn a living here. Thanks for the time, happy holidays. Robert http://www.squidoo.com/christmasbargains

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 01:58, Eric said:
    

    Happy holidays Robert, and never lose hope

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 00:04, Sid said:
  

  Hello Eric,

  My concern is that people that really can’t afford it will think this is easy money. Like so many programs this takes a level of effort and dedication. How many people buy into “Stuff” and never get past the initial step for what ever reason. You have made an honest assessment… this isn’t for everyone!

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 00:11, Marianna said:
  

  Hi Eric
  I read your Arbitrage review. I so appreciate your honesty and saving me from mistakes I can’t afford in the past. I’ve wasted so much scraped up cash on products that after you buy them end up being PPC or something else I did not want to get involved in. No way to tell until you’ve coughed up the dough and that’s so not fair. I’ve had to weigh 2-3 products against what they say in the copy letter and it’s a gamble really. You don’t know what you’re getting until AFTER you’ve spent your hard earned cash. Not like regular shopping at all and so unfair when you’re trying to learn something. I really trust you because you are honest- the real reason to trust people.

  Question#1:Is it possible you could give us on your list a minicourse or at least a few tips for how to make something modest like $1000 a week using arbitrage whatever that is?

  Question #2:CPA: Could you tell us how to use it in a simple way where we could really get some cash? I know what it is but not how to get it on my website even though I FINALLY got approved by a company! Can’t figure it out. Company said they don’t want to be bothered telling people how. To get accepted I had to lie and say, of course I know how to do it.

  Thanks for your tips. Marianna

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 02:02, Eric said:
    

    I will be giving some PPC tips later on in my lessons, but obviously it won’t be anything like the depth of Arbitrage Conspiracy. your Question # 2 is not so simple. Just putting a CPA offer on your site is not going to make you money, unless you’re getting traffic. I would suggest keep learning everything you can about internet marketing, and if you want to manage your own websites, learn HTML.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 00:14, Nick said:
  

  I’ve been following the Arbitrage Conspiracy Report and listened in on the phone call tonight and I couldn’t help but think to myself ” I wonder what Eric’s opinion is on this?” Just then I went to my e-mail and there it was, perfect timing! an e-mail from Eric’s Tip’s, saying, “Arbitrage Conspiracy: my review of the good and bad”. Great! I can wait to read this, and I’m sure it’s going to be good and it was, I don’t know too much about this, only what I read and listened to so far, but my thoughts were pretty close to accurate. This is not going to be easy for the beginner. Now I have about a years worth of experience with PPC. I use adwords to bring traffic to my Paintball Website http://www.paintballbuynow.com hope you don’t mind the plug. But what I’m afraid of is my lack of experience in all the other phases of internet marketing. The only experience I have is what I’m learning right now from Eric’s Tips, which is great but I still have a whole lot to learn and It seems like every time I learn something new, I realize that I know so little and this is going to be a challenge. Well, I like a good challenge, especially if it pays off, from my experiences it’s the challenging times that build character and wisdom. I would love to make $100k in one day but if I think it’s going to happen tonight or tomorrow or even next week and it doesn’t! well, you get the picture. Time, knowledge, research, learn how to do what ever it is you want to do well. Then maybe you can profit from it or make a nice living or maybe even hit the jack pot a few times. My modo has always been “Ever Give Up”. Thanks for all your help Eric.

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 02:03, Eric said:
    

    For someone like you who has some PPC experience, but not much overall internet marketing experience… I’d say go with your gut, whatever that may be (unless your gut is usually wrong).

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 00:19, Nick said:
  

  Never Give Up! sorry

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 00:33, Roy said:
  

  Eric,

  The PCA stuff sounds good. I have applied to several of the CPA Networks and they seem to only look for one thing. They want someone with a proven PPC business, a website with 3k in traffic or higher. They don’t seem to grasp the idea of using PPC and landing pages. Any advice to get started on a shoestring?

  Roy

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 02:04, Eric said:
    

    find a CPA network with less strict requirements, and prove yourself with them. Then you’ll have what it takes to get approved with others.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 00:48, Zach said:
  

  Hi Eric,
  I listened to the thing tonight - waste of my time; essentially it was a bunch of gurus saying hi to Aymen and thanking him while he mentioned a few general points and concepts.
  As to why Aymen is divulging these valued strategies - well, perhaps he has little future need armitraging in this increasingly saturated market, especially since he is going to be a CPA network with his army of newly indoctrinated, efficient, and loyal affiliates that he will have trained.

  Also, 12 weeks for the course? This must be a very complex and elaborate system.

  Unfortunately, I’m feeling less enthusiased.

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.15 01:09, julie said:
    

    probably 12 weeks in the course because they only refund after 60 days (credit cards only give you 60 days to dispute) and they save the best for last, right, so they can hook you in until you can not get a refund.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 01:06, John said:
  

  Good info Eric.

  I’m have a couple of questions though.
  1. A while back you told everyone that you weren’t going to be doing ANY MORE product promos right? And..
  2. You also said at the same time that you WERE going to be creating a bunch of training videos?

  So then why is it that you ARE doing product promotions and NOT doing the vids?

  I’ve been a subscriber of yours for a long time and have purchased products from you, AND I also referred clients and friends. But I’m sorry to say that I don’t do it anymore Eric, and I’m canceling my subscription as well. Why? Because you don’t walk your talk.
  Sincerely,
  John Michael Christian

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 02:11, Eric said:
    

    I never said I would be doing zero product promos. I said very few, and I have scaled back significantly. Over the past several months, I have been promoting an average of ONE product launch per month.

    One thing I found is that I do have a contingency of subscribers who would rather get product reviews than lessons. Maybe someday I’ll try to make seperate lists.

    I am still doing the vids. As I’ve mentioned a couple times in emails and in one blog post, I’ve had to reassess my own timeline due to personal priorities and time constraints. I AM still doing the videos, and my wife will attest that I am doing them as often as I can. I’ve posted 28 videos so far (I’d say that’s a “bunch”)… and I’ve already outlined up to 100.

    One thing I’ve found is that they’re taking me a lot longer than I expected, because I’m not willing to breeze my way through them. I want to make sure each of them are accurate and consistant quality. When I started, I thought I’d be able to just press record and whip out a few videos a day. But the more I saw how seriously people were taking the videos, the more I realized I have an obligation to make them good.

    Do I fail to walk my talk at times? Absolutely.

    I’ve also apologized multiple times, and I’ve adjusted my “talk” to try to more realistically reflect my walk.

    But I am sorry for not living up to my initial expectations I had set for myself. And I’m serious about that, I hate to let people down.

    [Reply]
    • At 2008.12.10 12:22, Joanne said:
      

      Eric,

      I can’t believe the flack people are giving you!! You have absolutely shown you are a man of integrity and a giving person with all you have given away FOR FREE!! The only reason I checked out the Arbitrage Conspiricy was because I trusted you.

      Listen folks, there are plenty of “Gurus” and the like to rightfully critisize, but Eric is not one of them! Go post on their blogs!

      Thanks Eric for all you do, it is much appreciated.

      Joanne

      [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 01:07, Alexander Asante said:
  

  Hi Bro,

  What will you recommend regarding an intro to PPC for a newbie to get the full grasp of the PPC mechanism and how it works before jumping into this Arbitrage thing?

  Your HONEST opinion and recommendation always worth more than GOLD to me.

  Thanks and continue to stay Blessed in Him.
  Love to the family.

  Alexander
  Montgomery County, MD

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 02:35, Eric said:
    

    If you’re just looking for some basic info about PPC to see what it is and how it works, there’s plenty of free info online.

    If you’re looking for an inexpensive course to learn some real techniques, you could try Google Cash which is what got me into affiliate marketing years ago.

    But if you’re set on learning the cutting edge Arbitrage Conspiracy techniques, then you might as well just buy the course and let them teach you from square one.

    If you’re a newbie and you’re not intimidated by my review or the comments above, then perhaps you’ve got what it takes

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 01:41, Tom said:
  

  Hey Eric,
  NICE!! Your comments have probably saved me from the bank taking the house, HoHo! It’s great to know someone who gives the good and the bad about what really Works or Not out there. An honest opinion… WOW! This is definitely helpful when these kinds of programs arise, especially for us newbie’s that try be the next millionaire…
  Keep It Real*

  Thanks a Million,
  Tom Lancaster

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 02:28, Susan dela Rosa said:
  

  Thank you Eric for an honest review. I appreciate your advise to us newbies. I have bought a lot of programs, trainings and ebooks because the salesletter says it’s so easy for a newbie,you work only 1 hour, you don’t need a website…etc. and most of the time I end up buying more stuff, learning more stuff that I end up studying how to use a tool or a software that I never get the chance to make money.

  Susan

  http://www.bestbuyelmolive.com/
  http://www.bodyacne.uloveyourbody.com/

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 02:33, Bill said:
  

  Hi Eric,

  You seem to be a good and patient man! I’m sort of thinking that dealing with all the skeptics might start taking a toll on you.

  Didn’t you just come back from a vacation? Maybe another will be needed in the near future ; - )

  I find the jealous folks out there who are struggling to win online and are coming up short, tend to be the biggest critics.

  Thanks for your honest review of this program. Many have a hard time spotting honesty when they see it, but if you’ll keep helping them along we’d all appreciate it mate!

  All the Best,

  Bill

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 09:23, Eric said:
    

    Thanks Bill. Honestly taking criticism and dealing with skeptics is probably the least enjoyable thing I do in this business, but I think it’s an important part of what makes me different and keeps my product reviews interesting

    And in general, I think you’re right about the toughest critics. It’s often the people who have been burned and/or failed in the past. They may have good intentions of helping others avoid their mistakes. But just because someone else failed, that doesn’t mean everyone will fail. It try to temper “hope” with a dose of reality. We obviously don’t want to tarnish any dreams, because the Internet opportunity is REAL. I’m living proof of it. But at the same time, I want to see people making wise choices for their individual situation.

    [Reply]
    • At 2008.12.10 14:03, David said:
      

      Eric,

      New standards need to be set in terms of the way “Guru” sales letters are written.

      For example, all sales letters should have something like the following:

      Tools and skills required
      =========================

      (e.g., graphic skills using Fireworks, intermediate level HTML skills, either hand-coding or using Dreamweaver)

      Ideal Level of Experience
      =========================
      Intermediate to advanced level of computer usage and browsing the internet. The ability to use FTP and install cgi and php scripts on a unix server.

      These are just thoughts on protecting hard-working people from “guru abuse”.

      This abuse is happening too often with these product launches and subscribers need to begin taking a collective stand against “guru elitism” and lies.

      Another thing that genuine purchasers need to do is to make sure that they get a refund if they are unhappy with a product, otherwise the “gurus” might think their product is impressive when it’s nothing of the sort.

      Enough is enough: The “gurus” have reached the point wherein it’s obvious that they think of their subscribers as mere ATMs.

      Maybe subscribers need to start banding together and letting the “gurus” know how they really feel.

      Maybe subscribers should develop a site that rates the “gurus” by a “Guru Spam Index” or “Guru Help Index” to weed out the rogues?

      [Reply]
      • At 2008.12.10 14:18, Eric said:
        

        I AGREE that marketers should be honest.

        But you know as well as I do that such an approach will never be adopted across the board.

        Therefore it is equally up to consumers to educate themselves. Just because hype is used on a sales page, that doesn’t mean anyone is forced to buy the product.

        We vote with our dollars. The winning sales tactics will continue to be used.

        Sure it’s a great idea for people to band together. There are forums where people do, such as the warrior forum. But if they truly band together, someone will inevitable come along and start leading that group of people… and the guru cycle will start all over again.

        On the same hand, remember that guru is another name for “teacher” and outside of our industry it’s not so much of a derogatory term. and if you ignore all the guru’s you will be missing out on a wealth on knowledge.

        That’s why I taught in LESSON #11 that one of the most important skills for a new internet marketer to develop is the ability to perceive and seperate the good information from the bad information. You simply can’t ignore ALL the information just because some of it is bad, and because some people want to rip you off.

        But you don’t have to remain a subscriber of someone who constantly treats you as their personal ATM. You can also vote with the unsubscribe button.

        [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 02:46, Joe said:
  

  I can see it clearly; 1st they are developing their own CPA Networks, 2nd Train others to fill it 3rd Make some capital, but mostly publicity for his CPA Network and Training Program, Personally I believe Aymen would probably give the program away, it’s The “Others” that are fishing for profits Good or Bad. Just my 2 cents.

  Joe

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 09:24, Eric said:
    

    You could be right. It’s a good “reason why”.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 03:15, Kamrul Hassan said:
  

  Hi Eric and Everybody!

  Even though I have not made a penny in internet yet, however, I felt I am going somewhere after reading Eric’s above review page and thinking how amazingly his thoughts and my comments ( just before I started reading Eric’s review I completed drafting my comment on arbitrage conspiracy to type it on their blog ) has lot of similarity.

  I am really feeling good now by thinking that atleast I have learned something, after all my review or thinking has got some touch with a guru like Eric.

  Thanks Everybody and Eric.
  Kamrul

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 04:18, Rich@ Company Formations said:
  

  Hey once again Eric I love the position you take for yourself and understand that it is a fine line that you have to walk to keep strong relations and stand out from the money hungry gurus that slam your inbox everday with “oh my buddy is launching the greatest ever”

  Thanks for being honest and standing strong

  Rich

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 04:20, zoran said:
  

  Hi
  After reading all these comments I think Eric will NOT make many sales out of this ober-hyped gurues launch. Eric, your customer list is full of people like me - fed up of gurues millking money out of our pockets. I am shure you can find some other way to turn all of us into HAPPY customers.

  Regards
  Zoran

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 04:50, Chris said:
  

  Eric,

  Great review. But I have a couple questions for you:

  If I am understanding correctly, you are saying that this is possibly the best course on PPC that you’ve ever seen. You’ve also stated that you are using some of the techniques in your own business (I’m assuming that’s not based on promoting CPA offers). This leads me to my question:

  Would you recommend this to someone who is not intersted in using this model to promote CPA offers? I own an ecommerce store and PPC is a major part of my business. I consider myself to be pretty skilled at PPC and I buy just about any serious PPC info I can get my hands on - Perry Marshall, Mr X, Adwords Agency Elite, PPC Classroom, etc.

  I’ve noticed the “magic bullet” spin that’s been put on this launch and it’s made it difficult to gage the level of the PPC info. I know there are different strategies for different business models….

  In your opinion, would this course be worth the price tag for me if I plan to use the info in an ecommerce business model. I’m having a very hard time believing that the CPA opportunity is so great that I should just drop everything I’m currently doing. After the seminar, have you diverted any attention from your current projects to pursue this CPA arbitrage business model? If not, do you plan to?

  Sorry for the barage of questions Eric, but this review has given me more insight than the entire launch up until now…so I’m digging for a bit more…lol..

  Thanks Eric!

  Chris

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 09:37, Eric said:
    

    Since you said…

    “PPC is a major part of my business”

    Chris, yes I would definitely recommend this course for someone like you. Their methods can be used for your own products/ecommerce.

    There may be a few weeks of the 12 weeks course that would not apply to you. But I’d be confident in assuming that you are not using all the tools that they are using. Applying a few of their advanced strategies could definitely make up for the price of the course very quickly.

    Yes I plan to divert some attention away from my current projects to focus more on PPC. But actually I plan on primarily using the Arbitrage Conspiracy methods to generate leads for my own business, rather than getting paid per lead by a CPA network. There’s also ways to do both at the same time (keep the lead for yourself AND get paid for it by CPA network), which they cover.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 05:05, Marion from get-that-click.com said:
  

  Hallo Eric
  Thanks for all the great information about arbitrage conspiracy and your honest opinion about it. Newbies are literally eaten alive. Although I have little experience even I am sucked in by marketing hype sometimes..
  Keep it up!
  Marion

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 05:16, anonymous said:
  

  I wish to remain anonymous.

  I know Aymen from the fact we started on the SAME course called Pay Per Click Formula Launched in 2007. I am still a member, so is he and his partner.

  Its all true about his sales. He started off not knowing anything about PPC to CPA. His threads on the PPCF show his progression and rising results/mistakes.

  NOW THE TRUTH.

  What I don’t like about this whole thing is the pitch to newbies.

  WHY?

  DO NOT BUY this course unless you are willing to spend A LOT of money testing what works. You will need to run it as a Full time business with massive commitment to time (so get the family support or forget it). You will eventually need a line of credit either c/cards or Bank overdraft (I currently work on a $70,000 LOC). You need to know at least the basics in Adwords, MSN, YSM (TOC), ftp, basic webdesign/WP Installing, basic php & scripting, copywriting, PPC tracking and Excel spreadsheets. These are the minimums. They are not difficult to learn but the poor newbies that throw themselves into the deep end NOT knowing this will be devoured.

  Bottom line IF you’ve got a lot of profit swishing around from your IM success AND are an experienced IM’er AND are willing to forget about EVERY other aspect of your business model to make the system work (for the next 12-18 months)…go for it.

  Finally I am also a Christian but that has proven to mean NOTHING when it comes to greed within the heart (and choosing to do the right thing.)

  I am appaled and sickened when I see large “Guru” types grab every last penny out of the families of those struggling to survive.

  PLEASE Eric be REALLY honest and make it clear here, those who are struggling to pay their bills right now should NOT get this course but should start out doing FREE bum marketing, costing them nothing and if done methodicly can reap a good auto income in 3-6 months thus funding the bigger course(and paying off their debts first).

  I wish all my fellow IM’ers a Very Happy and Peaceful Christmas.

  anonymous from the UK

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 09:50, Eric said:
    

    I think I’ve made it very clear that I disagree with the same part as you… the pitch to newbies.

    I’ve now heard that they are only selling 500 memberships. If that’s the case, there’s no reason to go after the newbies. There are thousands of qualified marketers who would buy it.

    I agree that you should not go into debt to buy this course or any course for that matter. It could be a risk that pays off, but I’ve always recommended bootstrapping it in this business and build it using your profits.

    I don’t think you need to forget about all aspects of your business to focus on their methods, unless you intend to quickly build to their level. There are definitely techniques in this course that could be applied to an existing business, or started at a lower level part time and scaled gradually.

    True… those who aren’t able to pay the bills are probably not good candidates for success with it. But some newbie out there is the next Aymen waiting to happen, and that person or persons may very well be on my list. So I don’t want to quench all hope.

    [Reply]
    • At 2008.12.10 10:05, anonymous said:
      

      Thank you for your reply. Glad to hear you agree. People will always read these posts as long as they are unbiased.

      I must also add I have been working full time in the PPC to CPA marketplace for quite a while now and each day gets harder (many reasons why). I have seen a fantastic ROI but its not a part time effort. Please people understand this will only work if you give it your 110%…Bon Voyage…

      [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 06:02, Home Remedies said:
  

  the landing page can be the affiliate link..so u dont need a website

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 09:51, Eric said:
    

    Right… you don’t need a website. You can use direct linking. There is definitely an important direct linking component in their systems. But that’s not how they make $100k a day.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 06:04, Home Remedies said:
  

  I think this program is going to use yahoo ppc because its cheaper and less competition

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 09:53, Eric said:
    

    I will say that they do use other PPC providers such as Yahoo, and it is a VERY important part of their business. That is all covered in the course.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 06:17, Home Remedies said:
  

  Aymen says he uses three tools.I think one could be a keyword research tool

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 09:53, Eric said:
    

    Maybe he means three categories of tools, because there were definitely more than 3 tools covered.

    [Reply]
    • At 2008.12.10 12:03, Ken said:
      

      Eric-

      It has been mentioned here and during the call that other software/scripts beyond the cost of the course would be needed to make this system of Ayman’s work. Do you have any idea what the cost of this software might be? I know it was stated that some of these tools are free, but some of them are not.

      Thanks.

      [Reply]
      • At 2008.12.10 12:10, Eric said:
        

        Good question. I have not added them together, or even checked the price of every tool. But my rough estimate based on the number of tools and what they do would be around the $1k range.

        [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 07:00, mak said:
  

  Some time back i tried to get into this game.
  The problem is that i got rejected from all 25 CPA networks over a period of 2 months that i applied for.

  Does anyone have an answer?
  before we start jumping into “$100k” a day???

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 10:00, Eric said:
    

    Start with one of the well known ones that won’t reject you, like Commission Junction (CJ is sort of like a a hybrid CPA network/Aff program provider).

    And as I’ve said… you can’t jump to $100k/day. You have to start with $1/day, $10/day, $100/day… it’s all about scaling it up.

    [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 19:51, Scot said:
    

    Mak- Funny you have been rejected by so many CPA networks… YES– I listened to the hype promo last night… I even cut my day job short to make it home to ponder the thought of buying the program. Wella!! I get home and no website to view or purchase…Technical difficulties.. Is the man upstairs telling me not to venture into the unknown?
    Back to the CPA rejections- I have applied to Hydra, Neverblue and CPA Empire (now called Affiliate.com)and accepted to all 3. Now just to drive forward and thrive on the knowledge Eric is providing.
    Hey Eric- Thanks for all the info. I am in PPC Classroom 2.0 and your blog exceeds the 2.0. As for other programs like Commission Blueprint, HyperVRE, Niche Revolution and Profit Lance- which have all been returned (not Profit Lance- one time buy -no backend products- GOOD!)
    Your review of the Conspiracy has been upfront and honestly taken to heart. I am glad I am on your newsletter. You saved me $2K. Thanks.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 07:43, Michael Roach said:
  

  Eric, I don’t remember how I came across your website a little while back, or what made me sign up for yet another e-newsletter… but thank God I did. The honesty is so refreshing… not to mention the great free content.

  This product is not for me — at least not right now — but I’ll be looking to you first for any new product launch review before I buy anything from now on.

  When I compare your product review to the nauseating hype from other lists for the same product, there’s no question that I’ve come to value your opinion more than most.

  Thanks,
  Michael

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 08:27, Hamant Keval said:
  

  Hi Eric,

  As usual you always have the alternative perspective although I must admit I printed all your post and read it thoroughly as I am a CPA mad hatter.
  I’ve doing this stuff for over 2 years and unless you say otherwise, there is always work involved in doing PPC to CPA and a lot more than $50.00 startup.
  I have to say I was expecting you to reveal a little more about the course though, I can appreciate the NDA you signed.

  Many thanks for your honest thoughts

  Take care
  Hamant

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 10:01, Eric said:
    

    Thanks. Yes there’s work involved.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 08:28, Ngahiwi said:
  

  Hi Eric,

  I like your old haircut:-)

  Thanks for the honest review and all the comments. I have been reading your blog for a little while off and on….always interesting and always trustworthy.

  I won’t be buying the product. I’m too scared to use adwords.

  One thing that really put me off, was a closing comment at the end of Brad Fallon’s Video, (prelaunch). He mentioned something about the gurus…and my next thought was…”now the gurus are guru bashing” What is it with these guys? Are they egomanic?

  At the very least…it’s unncessary from Brad Fallon and insulting to the general IM public.

  I belong to a membership where the owner has shown us his accounts in real time promoting CPA network products, using PPC and easily netting $260,000 a month for ONE low cost product. So yes, others are doing it big time.
  I think they usually have staff or outsoucers to hit $K100 a day in any business plan. I’m not sure about that tho.

  I was interested to know how this product compares to PPC Classroom if you bought in, taking into consideration the cost(s) only. Is PPC Classroom a better product for newbies to begin their PPC adventure? rather than a the huge cost of AC?

  Thanks again Eric

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 10:04, Eric said:
    

    That’s a good question. From what I know about PPC Classroom it’s good. But I can’t compare it to AC, because I haven’t fully reviewed PPCC. My buddy Anik wanted me to, but it was launched during a time that I just wasn’t able to find time to review it.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 08:31, La Vie Viennoise said:
  

  Thanks Rodney.

  Eric, it’s clear that arbitrage is a dying business and time to sell it out for the last fistful of cash. I’ve seen it on PPC. The costs have quintupled in our business in the last 24 months. We are dropping what were some of our most profitable keywords.

  Same thing must be happening in arbitrage - sell the dying nag to the city sucker at the country fair.

  Eric, the only thing which makes you substantially different from the other gurus is that you have the strength to publish our criticism. What keeps me reading is the community, like Rodney and Jaisne Blue Sexton. I admire your fortitude in publishing our comments.

  I pray that your subscribers are heeding the players in the comments and not following the Pied Piper to the river.

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 10:16, Eric said:
    

    Although your arbitrage business may be dying… the business model is not! It’s just changed. As PPC evolves, so will the most profitable way of doing it. Obviously you’re no longer on the bleeding edge of the profit model.

    As long as PPC lives, arbitrage will be viable. If it weren’t possible to monetize PPC traffic, PPC would die.

    Good to hear from you though Alec, even if your measure of value in my blog comes from the haters and not me You are welcome any time

    [Reply]
    • At 2008.12.10 12:39, David said:
      

      hi again eric. as mentioned, your willingness to leave the criticism up on your blog is a strong point. I plan to do the same. At this point i feel that a blog providing good content is a very good way to drive traffic to your products. it is from reading eric’s tips that i have gotten many ideas for how to model my own business which i am building through your videos. i know many will wonder what makes me qualified but i have been struggling to do it right for four years and made many mistakes and as you said yourself. listen to the guy that has failed not the one that turned everything to gold from day one.

      i think what most are complaining about the gurus is that they seem unreachable for newbies. i see that as any business that as you grow you need to reassess your time alotement. we are after all trying to build successful businessess. as the gurus move up that makes room for someone to step in where they were. i plan to step in. as you said there are plenty of people wanting to rum im with integrity. watch and learn it will happen. 2009 is just around the corner.

      to your success and mine it is possible. i myself will not jump on ac for my own reasons but that is from erics tips teaching me to use my head when making decisions.

      [Reply]
    • At 2008.12.10 12:56, La Vie Viennoise said:
      

      Hello Eric,

      I wouldn’t call this part of the crowd haters. Realists. Experienced. But not haters.

      Bleeding edge of the profit model? No, we’ve moved on to other things which are just as profitable as arbitrage used to be.

      Arbitrage is just another buzz word on what is flavour of the month.

      Make money online per se is fundamentally a foolish notion. Build a business. The same basic rules apply online or offline. Create value, enhance your customers’ lives.

      The only area where the rules don’t seem to apply is in the internet marketing field, where the naive are herded from one opportunity to another as their pockets are picked every step of the way.

      And then they line up all over again. Kind of sad.

      At best, it’s MLM. At worst, it’s straight theft.

      You are somewhere in the middle of the pyramid with your own very good upline. At least your site is a good deal more entertaining than those of most of these haypenny gurus. And at worst your intentions are confusing.

      I don’t know what I’d do if I were in your position. Would I cede to temptation? Perhaps.

      [Reply]
      • At 2008.12.10 13:14, Eric said:
        

        I can see where Rodney brings some experience to the table, although he did post with no link which makes his credibility questionable. But Jaisne? That’s a pure hater if I ever saw one.

        Just because people like you and Rodney have made good money with PPC in the past and seen your profits disappear, that doesn’t negate the validity of what Aymen is doing. You can’t make that claim unless you know EXACTLY what he’s doing.

        I’m in the same boat. I made a lot of money from PPC arbitrage back in 2005-2006 using the google cash method. I saw most of my profits disappear because of the google slap. But there are new tools, new techniques, and new horizons on PPC networks other than Google.

        Sure arbitrage is a buzz word. And Arbitrage Conspiracy is a retarded name for a high end course. But i’m not judging it on it’s name.

        I’ve always taught that the same fundamentals of offline business building apply to online business building. But I also teach and recommend money-making tactics that are not in it of themselves business models. Rather they are tactics to use within your business.

        [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 09:00, Sabrina O'Malone said:
  

  Hey Eric,

  Here’s the big question…when can anyone say they’ve passed the point of being a newbie? (I suppose if you have to ask, then it’s an indication that you still are!)

  Specifically, I’ve run some PPC campaigns, (the overwhelming majority of them having lost money with a few successes sprinkled in.) I’ve maintained several decent websites over the last six years. And know just enough HTML to get myself into trouble.

  But does that mean someone like me would be a candidate for Arbitrage Conspiracy? I know enough to realize that if I buy it, I’d better be certain to block of the time in my schedule to learn it and implement it FAST, before it loses it’s edge.

  And two weeks before Christmas, in the middle of a recession, allocating that kind of time and money towards something that I may or may not even have the patience, skill or temperament to implement gives me pause…Nevertheless I realize I’ve got to invest in my business and ongoing eduction if I intend to make this a lasting career.

  Hence the quandary…would you say Arbitrage Conspiracy would be helpful for someone like me? A low-level technical, time-pressed individual, with a poor track record for PPC?

  “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” James 1:5

  So I’ll pray about it. But I’d also like your opinion about a case such as mine…

  -Sabrina

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 10:26, Eric said:
    

    It’s a tough call for someone like you Sabrina. The fact that you’ve had a “few” PPC successes definitely makes you a candidate, because if you can create a profitable PPC campaign, you can scale it into something much bigger using their methods. However this worries me:

    “A low-level technical, time-pressed individual, with a poor track record for PPC”

    If your technical aptitude were a little higher I’d say go for it. But as it is, I’d be worried about you synthesizing all those software, scripts, and research tools into your business.

    I know for a fact that you possess the potential to make it work, but being “time pressed” AND lacking the skills are a bad combination. I think you would need to be able to devote considerable time to deepening your skills.

    Like you said… “I’d better be certain to block of the time in my schedule to learn it and implement it FAST, before it loses it’s edge.”

    I just don’t know if that’s realistic for you. If you can make it happen, go for it. If not, forget about it

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 09:39, Michaela said:
  

  Hello! Sabrina, you gave the right questions.
  In adition that PPC cost a lot, the course will cost a lot, the tools, domains will cost as well:
  - I don’t like this lock of information, we don’t know his name, his face, from where he is comming from
  - a comment here on eric’s tips which come to back him up, is “anonymous”, we are not anonymous, aren’t we?
  Last night, he didn’t give enough details, without details it look like hype, Mark J. put very good questions and he didn’t convince me with his answer.
  My experience with PPC is like yours, you depend on a lot of unknown parameters, and when you finally are an expert on PPC, Google changes the algorithm. 2006 was a good lesson for me, I stoped doing PPC in 2006, and I am dedicated now to the web 2.0 traffic, which is a lot of work but is free.
  Michaela

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 10:32, Eric said:
    

    Michaela, you say

    “I stopped doing PPC in 2006, and I am dedicated now to the web 2.0 traffic, which is a lot of work but is free.”

    A big key in your statement is “A LOT OF WORK”.

    People need to realize that free traffic is usually MORE work than paid traffic.

    PPC is still one of the best, fastest, and easiest ways for anyone (newbies included) to get targeted traffic.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 10:16, vinaygar said:
  

  hi

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 10:21, Jayme said:
  

  Hi Eric,
  I am extremely appreciative of your review here, very helpful. I will not be signing up for this. Keep up your good work and honesty.
  -Jayme

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 10:50, Kenneth Washington said:
  

  Eric, I must complement you on approving all replies to this post (Many of them quite negative against you.) This again shows how much of an honest person you are and you have my complete respect for allowing this.

  I’ve been marketing on-line for about 6 years now. Doing PPC marketing for about 3. I’ve located 2 reliable campaigns that help me pay the bills every month, which allows me to take risk on other on-line opportunities. No landing page. No list. Just found some related keywords, Direct Linked to the merchants offer, and am using Xtreme Conversions to weed out the non-profitable keywords, and nothing more.

  Why do PPC gurus try to make things so darn complicated? It doesn’t have to be.

  I’ve invested money in every sort of Google… PPC course that’s hit the market for the past couple of years. Learn some good stuff from many and really nothing of substance from most.

  To me testing as many CPA offers as you can afford, in hopes of finding that winner and ramping up your PPC promotions for it is more feasible. You must use a keyword tracking tool like Extreme Conversions to make it all work.

  What will this Arbitrage Conspiracy reveal that could enhance my current PPC efforts, not force me to start from scratch?

  I’m sick of sitting in front of my monitor, watching someone who doesn’t speak English well try to explain to me how to do things. Too many marketers rely solely on video to teach. That’s got to stop. If you’re going to release a product of this magnitude, please put your teachings down in written word.

  Once again Eric I thank you for allowing Freedom of Speech to permeate all throughout this thread.

  -Kenny

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 11:03, Eric said:
    

    thanks Ken

    “What will this Arbitrage Conspiracy reveal that could enhance my current PPC efforts, not force me to start from scratch?”

    I’m not telling you to buy the course, but if you have 2 PPC campaigns that help pay the bills… those are exactly the type of campaigns that can be replicated and scaled larger in some cases. I’m sure there are ways you could further exploit those gems you’ve found. I could mention some specifics based solely on what you wrote above, but I can’t give it away.

    Just so there’s no confusion… Aymen and his associates do speak English well. I listened to him for an entire day with no problem. But I do not yet know if there will be a written component of the course. I would imagine there will be at least a written outline, similar to the powerpoint presentation I received.

    [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 14:29, David said:
    

    Great post.

    Subscribers might need to ask Clickbank to require strict new standards in sales letters for Intnernet Marketing merchants.

    Merchants should be required to state who their product is specifically aimed at, and the skills, tools, and time required to make use of the info.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 11:10, Cherie said:
  

  Hi Eric,
  First of all, hats of to you for enduring this type of criticism. I know if this is what it takes to pull in hundreds of thousands then count me out. I am fairly new (just started posting ads but have read Beating Adwords about 5 times) to internet marketing and have recently lost money on a campaign, I know this isn’t new. I know that I’m not a candidate for what you are promoting, however, I want to know IN ALL HONESTLY, is it really possible to earn a living online meaning $4000 a month working about 3-4 hours a day. After my loss, I am really not sure. If it is, can you point me into the right direction. I saw you mention google cash but isn’t taht a little outdated. Have you heard of Wealthy Affilaite, and if you have, would you recommend it for what I want to achieve.
  Thanks much,
  Cherie

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 11:17, Eric said:
    

    Is it normal to lose money on a PPC campaign before turning it profitable? Yes.

    Is it “possible” for you to make $4k/month working 3-4 hours a day? Yes.

    Will it happen? I don’t know.

    Yes Google Cash is a bit dated, but far from obsolete. I don’t know about Wealthy Affiliate.

    As far as pointing you in the right direction, I’d say go back and start at lesson #2 of my lessons. First you need to decide if this business is really for you, and then you need to decide which profit model you want to pursue first. In general, I recommend that people have their own product.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 11:27, Susanna said:
  

  Wow, Eric, you are one of the first teachers I started following two years ago - through the Internet Millionaire and many webinars. I have spent my share of money on programs that haven’t proven to be prosperous, but I keep looking and applying the steps I learn. This sounded very promising, but I have to admit I don’t have any PPC experience - I use article marketing and other methods. So, because of your honest and insightful review here, I will not buy this course but will learn more about the process first. Thanks for all you do and give!

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 11:28, David Buckley said:
  

  Trying to set website for dish network

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 11:29, Bob said:
  

  I’m not buying.

  I made a living from PPC for over a year and belonged to a group that was right on the cutting edge.

  These 3 guys have been known (not by name) for the last couple of years. The experts in the group I was in tried in vane to figure out how they were getting their impressive results.

  The key to the big numbers is getting virtually unlimited traffic inexpensively.

  I’ll bet you a dollar to a donut that they course they are selling tells you everything you need to know about CPC except how to get unlimited traffic.

  So, my hats are off to them for the smarts and their investment in figuring this out. They deserve everything they are making.

  So they will make a little money selling the course, but their income will remain unaffected because they will not give away their most important secret.

  The real winners are all the gurus who promote this to their list for the affiliate commission. In fact, I think the promotion was put together by the gurus from the get go.

  I don’t have a problem with this either. Pretty smart and good marketing.

  However, the losers are the inexperienced that think this will be their panecea. And that’t too bad.

  (Grounded in the real world)Bob

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 11:42, Eric said:
    

    I can not know for sure whether they are withholding any of their tactics, but based on what was presented to me in Vegas it seems like they truly are handing over the keys to the kingdom. They did show how they get virtually unlimited traffic. And because of what’s involved in getting virtually unlimited traffic, I think most newbies will fail to reach that level. But for someone like you… I’d be surprised if you weren’t able to profit from their techniques.

    Here are some other reasons why I personally don’t beleive that they are withholding the real secret…

    1) If they don’t sell the REAL secret, someone else will eventually. It always works that way, so they might as well be the ones to profit from it.

    2) Even if they give away the REAL secret to 500+ people, less then 10% of those people will probably stick to the program and implement the secret. So it will not negatively impact their income… And as I’ve mentioned previously, I do beleive the PPC/CPA opportunity is MUCH bigger than most people realize. The internet is not going to run out of traffic any time soon.

    I appreciate your perspective

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 11:34, JoEl said:
  

  Thanks for your honest review Eric and for you who commented with your experience in CPA!

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 11:34, Ken said:
  

  Can someone tell me WHY these so called ‘gurus’ seem to ignore Carlos and Lupe Garcia who’ve been doing this for yrs ? Anyway, if it’s the money that attracts then Forex is on a par re actually understanding the operation but has greater reach and possibilities

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 11:36, Ed said:
  

  Eric,

  After reading the Arbitrage Conspiracy PDF it is clear that this product is simply a knock off of Gauher Chaudhry’s Pay Per Click Formula.

  It’s not a secret that Aymen is/was using Gauher’s methods. Aymen is repurposing Gauher’s system.

  I have not seen a copy of Arbitrage Conspiracy but I’m sure they will say that to be truly successful they way we are you are going to have to buy additional products that we recommend, and BTW make a hefty commission on.

  Two products off the top of my head are Speed PPC and LpGen. Both of which are excellent.

  Save your money and get a copy of Pay Per Click Formula.

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 11:48, Eric said:
    

    While I’m sure there are some similarities, I’m pretty sure its not a knock off. If he had merely repurposed a system, he wouldn’t have spent millions of dollars testing new tools and techniques.

    Yes you will need to buy some additional things to fully implement the system. But as you know, such tools can be a very worthwhile investment if you know what you’re doing with them.

    [Reply]
    • At 2008.12.10 12:01, Ed said:
      

      Eric,

      In the PDF there are more than “some” similarities, it’s almost verbatim of Gauher’s methods.

      I’d be interested to know if Gauher is one of the guru’s promoting this offer or not.

      [Reply]
      • At 2008.12.11 03:45, Michael Rytter said:
        

        I thought your readers might appreciate this behind-the-scenes info about Arbitrage Conspiracy. It’s an email from Gauher Chaudry, a very well-known and respected marketer in CPA and traffic brokering methods.
        ————-
        I have received a number of emails from my readers
        and customers regarding the launch of “Arbitrage
        Conspiracy” slated for today at 3:00 pm EST.

        I was invited to the $10,000 Las Vegas show but
        didn’t go because it was too short notice for me.

        I have not seen the course, so I can’t comment on
        the calibre of the material.

        Therefore this email is not an endorsement (you
        will NOT see any affiliate link), but rather my
        opinion based on the number of emails I have
        received asking my opinion and the forum thread
        that has started in the PPCF members area.

        What you will read is not hype, but rather the
        truth. Sometimes the truth can get distorted
        during these rather large product launches.

        I was well aware of this course almost 3 months
        ago because the guys behind it, Aymen and Emmanuel
        are both Pay Per Click Formula and Pay Per View
        Formula owners.

        In fact, Aymen and Emmanuel met each other at my
        PPV Formula seminar last December in Toronto.

        Most of don’t know this, but Emmanuel goes by the
        username OSR in the forums and you can spot him by
        the quality posts he has made in the forums.

        A lot of you are asking whether the numbers being
        thrown around (i.e. $100K net profit daily) are
        legitimate.

        Yes.

        I know these numbers sound absurd, but it really
        is quite possible to make these type of profits.

        How do I know this?

        Because for some of the CPA networks they were
        driving the traffic to, they had signed up under
        my REFERRAL link so I was getting anywhere from a
        2-3% percent commissions.

        I was stunned when I started receiving huge
        referral checks.

        I called them up and said, keep doing what you are
        doing because I like the nice large referral
        checks for doing nothing.

        I met up with Emmanuel at the CX Digital affiliate
        advisory meeting in October and he further
        explained to me how they were scaling their
        campaigns to get massive results.

        I told them that when they were ready to launch, I
        would be their number one affiliate.

        But that will not happen because I have not seen
        their material and therefore can’t endorse their
        course in all fairness.

        Now, when the Arbitrage Conspiracy report first
        came out, I was a little bit taken a back when
        they started revealing the Alexa technique.

        Now, I don’t claim to own the concept of bidding
        on domain names, but I know that the strategy of
        harvesting related domains from Alexa is only in
        PPC Formula.

        So I sent an email to both Aymen and Emmanuel
        yesterday before their teleseminar asking why PPC
        Formula material is being revealed and how closely
        related their material is to PPC Formula and the
        subsequent release of PPCF 2.0.

        They both immediately called me and explained that
        their was no bad intention to use my material and
        that their course is very different.

        Aymen told me he tried to reach me before they
        released the report for review, but I was in
        California for the PPC Classroom event.

        Did I believe them?

        Yes, because both are stand up guys.

        It was Aymen who lent me his tech team and servers
        for months to host some of my web sites and he
        NEVER charged me for this.

        Aymen has been gifted with great intelligence. He
        is only around 25 years old, but talks like he has
        50 years experience under his belt.

        No joke.

        Aymen actually called my the day before the Las
        Vegas event and went over the highlights of his
        presentation with me to get my opinion.

        I told him him that that there was no way he would
        be able to cover everything in one day.

        Emmanuel has shared with me insider tips and even
        sent me some of their PPC tools that were created
        in-house.

        So while I can vouch for their credibility, I
        *still* can’t say anything about the course
        itself.

        Aymen did indicate to me on the phone call that
        PPCF members were not the targeted audience and it
        may not be a good fit because of some overlap.

        But I *may* have to disagree.

        *If* the course itself can provide some insights
        into how they can scale up so large, then it may
        provide some good value to PPCF members.

        The course is not cheap. It will cost around
        $2,000. If you have not done anything with PPC
        Formula when you bought it, then you will probably
        not do anything with Arbitrage Conspiracy either.

        Brad Fallen is behind the launch as Aymen and
        Emmanuel needed a top guru to promote them
        because they were not known to the IM world
        until this launch.

        I almost feel sorry for Aymen and Emmanuel because
        it doesn’t seem like they have full control of
        this launch.

        The Arbitrage Conspiracy launch has gotten too
        hypey now with almost all the major gurus
        promoting it.

        While there were a few people who paid $10,000 to
        attend the seminar, all the gurus (maybe 95% of
        the group) got in for free.

        So if some guru who is promoting this says he/she
        paid $10,000 to attend, chances are he/she is full
        of s**t.

        Now, most of these gurus who went to Las Vegas for
        the seminar were dumbstruck by the presentation.

        And they should because most don’t do PPC.

        They sell their own products and have email lists.
        So this was all new to them. But they were there
        because Brad Fallen wants them to promote the
        course.

        If this was an event on how some guy was making
        $100K a day with PLR info products, then people
        would also be freaked out right now about PLR
        rights.

        It is really that simple.

        I heard from other heavy PPC marketers who did
        attend the seminar say that they only got a few
        nuggets of info, but not a whole lot.

        So your response to the Arbitrage Conspiracy
        course will really depend on how advanced you are
        with PPC.

        Aymen and Emmanuel run a very advanced operation
        with staff and there is quite a bit of technology
        involved.

        If you think they live the affiliate lifestyle
        where they work for a few hours and than surf the
        waves the rest of the day, then you are mistaken.

        Both are workhorses and sometimes only sleep a few
        hours a night.

        It has required A LOT of hard work and dedication
        to achieve these staggering results.

        There are only a handful of affiliates that I know
        that have received these incredible results and
        the only other friend I know pushing similar
        numbers is Amish Shah of the Hexatrack fame and he
        has indicated that he has a team and also uses
        advanced technology.

        So it is not as simple as buying the course and
        you will be making $100K a day in a few weeks.

        You have to have a passion for this PPC to CPA
        stuff in order to make it work successfully.

        The main reason for the Arbitrage Conspiracy
        course is for a lead-in to their own CPA network.

        So that is my take on this entire launch.

        I really have nothing to write about the course itself because I don’t know anything.

        Use your own judgement.

        Best wishes,
        Gauher

        PS…Even if she has finished hairdressing school now, I’m still not letting your sisterinlaw cut my hair! LOL!

        [Reply]
        • At 2008.12.11 09:37, Eric said:
          

          Thanks for posting Gauher’s email… I give that a lot of credibility. And essentially, his viewpoint seems to support my review:

          It’s real. The system works, but is complex and hard work (ie. not for the greenest of newbies).

          [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 12:23, Ken said:
    

    It should be noted that PPC Formula 2.0 will be launched 1/27/09. I’m assuming this is in response to the launch of AC.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 11:42, Susanna said:
  

  Eric, you are one of the first teachers I’ve been following for two years. I have built many sites, none are converting well, so I continue to listen and learn and hope that I too will experience success. This arbitrage system is fascinating, I almost went for it, but after reviewing your comments and others, think I had better investigate on my own before I pour time and money into one more program. Thanks for all you do and give!

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 11:46, Francois said:
  

  Hi Eric

  Thanks for the great review.
  A question:
  According to the example in the e-book, The CPA pays out $1.50. If you run a PPC campaign, you might pay $0.50 a click. That means that you will have to have a conversion rate of more than 33%!
  Am I missing something?

  Best regards
  Francois

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 12:04, Eric said:
    

    That’s correct. That’s a realistic conversion rate for a well executed campaign. Keep in mind that some CPA offers pay just for the visitor submitting their ZIP CODE. The more info required, the higher the payout (and thus the lower the conversion). But basic ZIP or email submits can have very high conversion.

    Now suppose you were only paying 35-40 cents/click, and converting 50%… you’d be doubling your money.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 11:47, Michelle Green said:
  

  I am sure there is a lot of priceless information in the product, so I doubt that anyone will lose completely unless they buy and don’t apply. Most of the products I’ve purchased didn’t prove profitable right away but I always take something away from each failure that helps me in my business somewhere along the line.

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 12:07, Eric said:
    

    Your sentiment goes well with the title of your site:

    Make money not excuses!

    

    [Reply]
    • At 2008.12.12 18:08, Duane said:
      

      Hi - exactly. I get tired of hype as well, but I also get real sick of hearing “that’s a scam, i tried it for a month, it doesn’t work… blah blah blah.
      It’s my experience, both in observing & from my own life, that USUALLY (not always) one cannot say, “it” didn’t work, but “I” didn’t work. At least, didn’t diligently work the system with the necessary tracking, management, etc.
      Newbies are deceived usually because of the notion in the head that “this will be money with virtually no work”. It’s true that eventually, after you make enough money, you will work less & less (because now you can build on that success with multiplication & even just let the money work for YOU now), but when ANYone starts out, the work will be sleeplessly huge as one gets over the learning curves, slow process, indecision, lack of focus, etc. I found in me the problem wasn’t “the programs”, the problem was ME. I wasn’t disciplined to consistently implement the needed tasks, nor persevering enough to keep going after the first couple obstacles (like being rejected by a CPA program, or script now working, etc.) or when a week or two of tediousness led to zero profits at first.

      THe catch 22 is that, while lots of these systems are good & require work, it’s a very hard sell to newbies to say, “this will require lots of work, knowledge, software, etc.” Nobody would buy it, because, to be honest, we all PREFER to believe the lie-dream that somehow overnight I can make thousands/month with no disciplined effort on my part - just the “secret key”, and will ONLY buy the products that promise us that. So it’s not all the guru’s fault - it’s giving what the CONSUMER WANTS to hear (many don’t WANT to hear the truth). Someone spoke of the marketers being greedy - well the only way they make huge income selling is because the BUYERS are greedy for quick gain and DON’T WANT to hear anybody saying, “follow this, & you’ll make $100/month in 5 months, then $1000 month in 14 months” or something like that. The “greedy” buyers would delete that email right away cuz it’s not quick, easy cash. So when they don’t receive this immediate dream, the marketers are made out to be the villains, and their programs are supposedly scams and frauds. Just get over it and read every sales page with a grain of salt, tell yourself you WILL have to work more than they’re letting on, you MAY need a website & you WILL need to spend more money to get anywhere near what they earn, but don’t throw it all away as lies just because they had to put glitter on the box for you to even consider looking at it in the first place. The contents of the box may still be quite good if you work at it. It’s not all THEIR fault that people only pay attention to glitter and flash. Nor is it all their fault that something really helps one kind of person, but won’t help another. They can’t read your mind nor predict your working habits.

      So I agree. Let’s stop making excuses. Stop passing the blame of our own failure (or gullibility & greed) to the marketers, and just get down to business with systematic productive sowing and reaping.

      [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 12:45, Joerg Weishaupt said:
  

  Hi Eric,

  I always like to read your reviews and I regularly visit your blog, but this is actually the first time I’m making a post as well.

  While usually I totally agreed on your reviews, I do not so this time.

  Instead I very much agree with the anonymous poster from the UK.

  You need to have lots of “play money” - in the thousands actually - and you need to be able to put them at risk without ruining your financial situation.

  In addition to the costly course you’ll probably need lots of tools where most of them are subscription based and definitely not going to be cheap.

  So in my opinion this is not only NOT for newbies but this also is NOT for you, if you cannot afford to invest at least $5k to $10k.

  Of course if someone purchases such a course for $1.7k to $2k you probably think he can afford to do so. But I’ve seen it so often that people are giving their last pennies into something like this in the hope of finally living their dreams. Please don’t do it!

  No matter what they are going to teach you, there is an extremely high risk of burning a lot of money.

  Thanks
  Joerg

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 12:57, Eric said:
    

    If you read through all my replies above, I think you will find that I consistently agree with you that this is not for everyone. On the one hand, I would not go so far as to say you need lots of play money. It’s a calculated risk, and you can use your business capital. While risky, PPC is one of the best places I can think of for an Internet marketer to invest in traffic, because the traffic is basically guaranteed. On the other hand, I will actually take one of your statements a step further…

    “there is an extremely high risk of burning a lot of money”

    Actually, it’s more than a risk… it’s a known factor that you will burn money when you play the PPC game. The question is whether you will have the knowledge and tools necessary to kill the campaigns that will never make money, and to take the bleeding campaigns that have potential and make them profitable.

    So it’s inivitable that you will burn money in PPC. The nice thing about this course is it shows you how to get past the burn stage and into the profit stage, and then how to ramp up the profit stage into higher profits.

    To go along with what I’ve been consistently saying… I think most newbies lack what it takes to stay the course. Maybe they lack the finances or determination… or perhaps they will get too fearful during the “burn” stage of a campaign and not get past it. That’s also why I think marketers who DO know how to create a profitable PPC campaign (even if it’s small) will be at a severe advantage when it comes to implementing the methods taught in the course.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 12:49, Carolina said:
  

  Thanks for your honest review…
  It seems that a majority of people that are choosing to begin a business online bring in too many misconceptions on how it should come together…
  Although it is not a brick and mortar it does require continuous work and persistance…
  Let us thank our awesome God for the success that is ours to take…

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 12:51, Mark said:
  

  Hey Eric and Readers …

  I echo others … I respect you for your openness here. Very cool. There’s not one of us here that wouldn’t have arrows in our back either, being in your position.

  I agree … this is definitely not for newbies, especially those who haven’t implemented something, anything before. You need to Take Action first … on something. Buy a $47 ebook and implement it … that’ll get you success.

  But don’t jump on this IF you’re a newbie who just keeps buying stuff. It really gets to me when I see people buying and buying.

  Lastly, if you’re wondering whether to buy the product … just buy it … review it … try it and be sure to get your refund if you don’t want it.

  They’re going to honor it … this is too big for them not to.

  Again … Eric, very cool environment here … I’m a fan.

  Mark

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 12:58, Chip said:
  

  It seems to me like the governemt should be exploiting the internet through the means that this program boasts for underfunded projects. Or maybe Mr. Obama could sign up…his chances of truly aiding the ailing economy are greater with this program than with his policies.

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 13:14, Michaela said:
  

  Hi!
  Thanks Eric for responding, YES, Web 2.0 free Traffic is a lot of work but it is just up to me to do it.
  If after a lot of people invest in this course, and 50% of them start to make millions per day, can we be sure that Google will stop changing the SEO algorithms? No! Then the other 50% lost money, and the first 50% will stop making money.

  By the way, Aymen (we don’t have the other name or the names of his associate) said to look over at 11:45 AM, it is 1:10 PM and I didn’t get any email from him yet.

  This is adding up to:
  1) The secrecy I don’t like it
  2) 24 hours and you start… when you need one week at list to be approved by CPAs,
  3) all the money you have to spend up front, (I don’t believe in $50 start)
  4) The vague answers of Aymen and no guaranties

  All the fuzz about a big launch, make me think that the price will be very high, which in our economy is… all we need now. But I am curious, I still wait his email with more details, price etc.

  I didn’t come to this discussion unprepared:
  1) I read the free PDF about arbitrage (some substance, and a lot of hype)
  2) I read Eric Louviere’s PDF is called “Six-figure Apprentice Program” it has the same promises, and the PDF cost $20.00, and the upgrade is only $197 One Time Tuition
  3) I start last week, apply for 6 CPAs, 3 approved me, 3 reject me, but took one week to find out, not 24 hours
  4) I already tried one PPC, didn’t work, just to try a lot off PPC until you get one which is working is more then $50.00.

  To tell you the truth between your lessons and Arbitrage I prefer your lessons, they are a better foundation for success, and I think all these big launches are destruction from our work with less chance to succeed.

  Thank for all the time you put in this, and I really wait your next lesson.
  Regards
  Michaela

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 13:28, Richard said:
  

  It is 1:30 Eastern Time now and the Arbitrage Conspiracy site isn’t up an running yet. Anyone heard what is going on?

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 13:39, Eric said:
    

    Apparently it is being launched at noon PST rather than EST. I have an email from them saying it was going to be EST… but now they’re saying it’s PST. Maybe it was an honest mistake and they meant PST originally… or maybe they changed it on the fly due to problems. I have no idea.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 13:38, Zach said:
  

  well said Michaela, I agree. Frankly, I’d like to know who I’m doing business with - I don’t know his last name or seen his face - this could be a concocted scheme by all the gurus for all I know

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 13:42, Juliet Easton said:
  

  Eric,
  I was also in Vegas at the event. I think your review is very honest about who this offer will benefit.

  A few questions some of your readers have brought up, that I think you have tried to clarify, but don’t seem to be sinking in:

  Aymen’s motive - obviously setting up his own CPA network and having an army of super affiliates is a huge motive for training people in the right way to do this.

  Comments by Charles Heflin and others who have tried CPA and failed or not been able to get into the networks - there is a whole other language in CPA and if you do not know it and how to communicate correctly, you will get nowhere with CPA - this course will teach you all of that!

  Another important point is that this is a 12 week course for a reason - learning to do this the correct way takes time! You have to test thoroughly with PPC before you even think about going to CPA. The way Aymen teaches this is a very clear step-by-step process.

  Too much competition - there are soooo many CPA networks and so many ways to utilize them. A lot of the Gurus will not even be using a lot of what is taught in this course regarding affiliate programs, but doing as Eric said and applying these methods to their own products.

  So, Eric, I don’t have an IM list. My main project is http://eBiz4Youth.org - a non-profit program for At-Risk Youth. I have not focused much on being an affilate for this program - only using a bonus strategy. I have a lot of other projects that are a higher priority to me right now.

  Hopefullly my comments will help some of your readers decide if this is right for them. Sorry I missed meeting you in Vegas - there were so many people there!

  As always, I appreciate your honesty in your reviews of affiliate products. A lot of Gurus are not that genuine!

  Thanks!
  Juliet Easton

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 13:52, Eric said:
    

    Thanks Juliet Too bad we missed each other in Vegas!

    [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.11 08:53, Charles Heflin said:
    

    I didn’t fail Juliet … I used to own a CPA network and know all the lingo. I know how to buy and sell traffic, leads, you name it.

    This system is a ploy and these guys are using unsuspecting “victims” to bankroll the launch of their own CPA network.

    Most of their victims will fail miserably … I say this with 100% certainty. This has to be one of the biggest cash grab scams I have seen in a long time.

    I still make good money through arbitrage and CPA deals but it is a hard road to haul and requires a significant bank roll (credit card or whatever) to float.

    Bottom line, this is not for newbies and it is not for people who will shell out their last $2k … expect to spend WAY more than $2k just to get the wheels turning.

    I can almost bet that their sales letter will not warn people of this.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 14:13, Arne Larsen said:
  

  Hei Eric,
  I really appreciate your honest review for the Arbitrage Conspiracy.I am a newbie and the salesletter for this program makes it very tempting to grab the creditcard.I have seen it before, it looks to easy, and I really can’t understand why there is not more of you “gurus” who feel the same responsibility for your customer like you do. I assume in the long terms we are more important to you than all the gurus in the world.
  Thanks again

  kindest regards
  Arne

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 14:21, Richard said:
  

  Oops I guess that was supposed to be Pacific Time.

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 14:24, Laurie Lacey said:
  

  Hi Eric,

  Well, I certainly commend you on taking all the criticism — but, you know, I notice that the bad is more than balanced by all the good remarks you have received. So, all in all, you should feel good about things.

  I have a bit of advice for newbies. Rather than jumping on the Arbitrage thing, or into the latest MLM adventure, take the time to learn some basics. If you cannot afford web hosting, setup a free blog on Blogger or by using Wordpress. Then, learn by promoting a few Clickbank products, and drive traffic to your blog by article marketing.

  Say what you like, but article writing and posting on sites like EzineArticles or GoArticles, is one of the best methods of getting highly qualified traffic to your blog or website.

  The main thing is to do something for yourself! Do not just surf around, looking for the latest easy money making idea. Simply by doing and learning the basics, you can move beyond the “newbie” stage.

  All the best,
  Laurie

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 14:32, Juliet Easton said:
  

  Yes, the product launches at noon Pacific Time, 3PM Eastern. There was some confusion over that!

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 14:48, Don said:
  

  What is your signup URL?

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 14:51, Doug said:
  

  Am I seeing the guarantee correctly? Is says AFTER the 3 months of training, then they’ll refund???

  I have an early bird link and just read it …

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 14:55, Mike Liebner said:
  

  Hi Eric, Great review! I’m watching this thing with great interest! I’ve been taking similar training from a guy that taught Ayman about PPV and Contextual Ads and am fascinated with this whole CPA and cheap traffic angle. It can be huge - no doubt! Scaling up is the key and if I can learn just one nugget from Aymen to get me there faster - I will be thrilled! I don’t expect him or anyone to do EVRYTHING fo rme! Man… some of these people are not just negative Nellie’s they are downright depressing! It’s sad to see so many untrusting people. It’s negative attitudes like that preventing the doors of success from opening. Eric, you naled it when you rveealed his motive - he will be stating his own CPA network and wants to have robots ready to send in the leads - I can’t think of a better reason than that alone to teach others how to do it!

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 15:04, Don said:
  

  I thought they said 1pm PST. How come we can’t get on the site? What is your signup URL?

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 15:17, Eric said:
    

    my signup URL is:

    Arbitrage Conspiracy

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 15:12, Zach said:
  

  its past 12 pst and i havent received any quickstart email and the main url shows nothing so far

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 15:15, Zach said:
  

  its past 12 pst and i havent received any quickstart email and the main url doesnt show anything yet. am i missing something?

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 15:19, Eric said:
    

    No, it’s not live yet for some reason. I did notice that none of the affiliate clicks I sent today were tracked in their system, so maybe they’re fixing a problem on the back end. I have no idea.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 15:24, Robert said:
  

  So much for a headstart. I had a link from Buck Rizvi that let me in at 11.40 PST. It is now 12.23 PST and still the site is not live for orders.

  Looks like Erics bonus is now in play if I do go ahead and order.

  Rob

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 15:42, Eric said:
    

    What’s up with Buck having an early link? doesn’t seem fair to me…

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 15:37, Alla said:
  

  Eric, it’s not even a question how much they are really making. The question is ‘What kind of teachers are they?’ Do they have any experience teaching? No. It’s not sufficient to do it yourself. Teaching is not that easy. Now, if they try to fool people that they are not using websites, started for $50.00, etc. chances are that they lie about other things. I do not believe these people, therefore I will keep my money for now. The reason I am writing here, is because I wanted to thank you for your review.

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 15:44, Eric said:
    

    That is a good question… and actually Aymen and his associates are good teachers, based on what I experienced in Vegas.

    And I doubt that Aymen wrote any of the sales copy on the page. I honestly don’t know who wrote it. But since he name is on it, he is still accountable to an extent even if someone else wrote it…

    Thanks

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 15:42, Daren said:
  

  Hello Eric, I for one would be very interested in following the success or failure of those who purchased this product. You might think about doing another campaigne based on those who puchase through your affiliate link, and take a survey of how they are doing. Then post it. This would probably be the most telling and useful imformation that you could possibly provide to your subscribers.
  Thank You- Daren

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 15:45, Joanne said:
  

  There was an early bird link for those who listened to the call. 11:45

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 15:47, Eric said:
    

    Ah I see

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 15:50, Robert said:
  

  11.45…yes, had that as well, but the Buck one trumped it, well it would have if the site went live when it should have.

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 15:59, Scott said:
  

  I’ve followed you for all of 30 minutes now, but after reading Jaisne’s second post, I want to go visit her in person (maybe in a dark alley?) to tell her what I think of her.

  Anyway, thanks for being honest and upfront - you do have a new long-term follower…

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 16:18, Anonymous said:
  

  Hi,

  If in fact these guys were making $100k a day do you really think they’d be grubbing around trying to sell this product ?

  But hey its got plenty of ‘dumba** redneck appeal’ so you can get bet many will buy it, and both affiliates and promoters will be able to grow their sucker email lists for future plunder.

  A free lesson in applied internet marketing for the rest of us !

  So sit back and enjoy show — just keep your pocket books closed, lol.

  Harry

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 16:25, Honey Wesley said:
  

  Hi Eric,

  Kudos to you for being a true professional in every sense of the word. I’ll be linking to this post from my own blog, as I think anyone considering buying Arbitrage Conspiracy needs to hear the pros and cons.

  I couldn’t agree more that in MOST cases, if you’re new to internet marketing, or just barely getting your feet wet, these uber priced ginormous launches are not for you.

  While I believe it does take money to make money, as I’ve heard all my life…I don’t believe you need to or should go into debt to make money online. You *can* start with next to nothing…it just takes longer, that’s all.

  I’ve always said when I finally started making money online I would share as much knowledge as I possibly could to as many people as I could reach, and I wouldn’t charge them a cent for it, much like you’ve done.

  There are billions of websites out there, and millions of people coming online for the first time every day. There’s so much money changing hands online I can’t see a reason why anyone who wants a piece of that action can’t have it.

  And if I can do anything at all to help people achieve it, then I will. Will I recommend products I use and love? Yes. Will I offer a bonus if people buy through my affiliate link? Yes. Will I promote every shiny new product that comes down the pike? Never.

  You’ve set an admirable model for internet marketers to emulate…give, give, give, and then give a little more. It all comes back to you tenfold.

  Thanks for being a shining example I’m proud to tell my readers about.

  Honey Wesley

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 16:31, Eric said:
    

    Thanks Honey (note to my wife: that’s her name)

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 16:27, Dave said:
  

  I am interested in the featured program you list about The Arbitrage Conspiracy. This looks like an excellent opportunity for those of us that are getting started and don’t have a product. How ever when looking at the CPA network sites they seem to be looking for marketers that already have a very active web site or a large mailing list. In fact the impression given by reviewing the sites is that unless you have one of those, don’t bother.

  I understand more information is on the way but in the mean time can you shed any light on the process or the steps needed to get started.

  I did make a token amount of money using the techniques in the Writing Cash program a few months ago, but after the first 2 sales nothing and other campaigns didn’t produce any sales so I put them all on hold and started studying again.

  It would seem the key is finding the right promotions and keywords.

  The CPS networks would appear to offer viable offers but how does a newby get approved without a website with a lot of visitors or a large list?

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 16:41, Eric said:
    

    There are a handful of networks, such as CJ which are easy to get approved with. Start with them. Next, build a website. In my lessons I talk about the importance of having your own website, and this is another reason why. You can get a website online for about $20, so if you’re serious about the business, there’s really no excuse not to. You can start at LESSON #23

    Even though your site will be brand new, you can make your website look like a well established business, which will help with some CPA networks.

    And start building a list. I use Aweber

    You have to start sometime, so you might as well start now… and even if it’s a slow start, you can gradually build your list and website. Then in a matter of months you can go back to the CPA networks who turned you down and tell them you have a website and a list.

    By the way, sometimes all it takes is a personal call or email to a rep at the CPA network to show them you’re serious and you have a viable game plan.

    In Arbitrage Conspiracy, they actually tell you HOW to talk to a CPA network… things to say and not say. Basically you want to talk THEIR language and not sound like a newbie internet marketer.

    [Reply]
    • At 2008.12.10 19:38, Dave said:
      

      I do have a web site I used to review some products but with no success. I need to reconfigure it to work with the CPA networks. This I plan to do and I appreciate all the help you are providing. I have read some of the detractors on your blog but I am impressed with you composure to not respond in kind and continue to give good sound advice even to the detractors.

      Thanks again Eric

      [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 17:28, Anita M said:
  

  It is so refreshing and reassuring to get such an honest review - detailing exactly who the product is suitable for. Luckily for me I have an extremely tight budget, so have not been able to take advantage of the many ‘amazing guaranteed to make me a millionaire’ offers that come through my inbox each day. I know that when I am looking at something, a thumbs up from you is an excellent start! Thank you!

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 17:38, Ron said:
  

  Hi Eric,
  Even your link to Arbitrage Conspiracy has a message that states they are experiencing difficulty so it’s nothing to do with EST or PST - it’s tech problems.

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 17:44, Eric said:
    

    well initially I think it was supposed to be EST, so my guess is that they switched it to PST at the last minute hoping they’d have their problems resolved within 2 hours… but alas… ANOTHER launch disaster LOL (I know they’re not laughing… and neither am I really… LOL ok now I am)

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 17:56, Lisa said:
  

  Eric,
  I truly admire and appreciate you posting all of your comments; the good, the bad and the ugly LOL! I also wanted to make a comment on the comment that there seems to be more neg comments than positive in this post. But it’s really human nature to complain, rather than praise so, I’m not surprised.

  I have been following your site for awhile now and just appreciate All the information and comments you lay out for us so that we can make our own informed decisions.

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 18:17, Jim Kinnebrew said:
  

  Hi Eric!

  Thanks for the review of AC. It convinced me that I don’t know enough yet to do that. Which brings me to this: When are you going to get back to teaching us how to get going? Your Tips emails were great, but lately I am just getting pitches. I know this is how you make a living, and I don’t mind; but I can’t use what you are selling until I have a business up and running.

  Thanks and Merry CHRISTmas.
  Jim

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 18:45, Eric said:
    

    Soon… very soon.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 18:44, Rob said:
  

  Here we go again, the launch has been put off for 24 hours. Here is what it says on the site.

  “We have decided to delay going live until tomorrow Dec 11th at 12:00pm PST or 3:00pm EST.”

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 18:53, Eric said:
    

    Good grief. Not cool…

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 19:36, Zach said:
  

  Hi Eric,
  While waiting for AC, I’ve taken the time to check out one of your products, “Trading Pro System.” I’m strongly considering buying it. Is it really a 15min a day endeavor? Is it specific and practical or mostly generalized like buy low and sell high advice? Anyone out there with experience with this product?

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.10 21:54, Eric said:
    

    Yes it really is, with a couple disclaimers…
    there’s 24 solid hours worth of training material, some of which you may need to watch twice. In other words, you need to take the time to learn the system (and we recommend practice by paper trading) before you can be confident logging in for 15 minutes, setting up your trades,and taking the day off. Also right now due to the market volitility, it is helpful for some (but not all) of the strategies to watch the market a bit more frequently during the day.

    It is very specific and practical, not generalized.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 20:45, Warren said:
  

  Eric

  The main reason I keep coming back here is that I love your honesty and integrity.

  Warren
  http://www.360digitalperformance.com

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.10 23:12, james said:
  

  i want for the writing cash tips details we writing the story r any this type

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.11 00:44, Greg said:
  

  Solid review. Nice to finally read a seemingly honest and less hyped up version as others.

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.11 01:10, Mark said:
  

  Thanks for all the people who shared and posted.

  I have been reading for the last 45 minutes and gained a wealth of information, which gives me a lot of clarity.

  Most of all thank you to Eric for allowing all the post, even the ones that were not so user friendly.

  I know that in what I am going to develop on the internet will be very controversial but by being able to participate in this blog I can see it is important for all opinions to be heard.

  Thanks again to all!

  Mark

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.11 01:26, brenda said:
  

  I’m amazed that you think you can ‘get away with’ the old, make a few negative points about an offer and pitch it at the same time trick…do you think we came down in the last shower?

  After dialing in internationally to the call that was said not to be missed (except it’s now on their site!) and putting off my crying baby in hope to get some ‘real’ answers I am nothing but sickened by Brad Fallon and his guru fan club doing what they’re doing.

  Soon to be guru “Ayman” claims to want to help everybody and all, I almost believed him. Except when I set my clock for 3am to check out the launch to find it’s been put off. Only to find it gets put off again and then the pathetic ‘technical issues’ hype page goes up. This is just the Stomper launch all over again. To put people through this sort of crap tells me that the program mustn’t be all that good as they need to ‘falsely create’ demand. How pathetic that Fallon and the ‘gang’ would stoop to such a level.

  They really had me until 3am and then I smelt the rat. I then had a look at the affiliate page (you yourself are very familiar with that:)) to discover the email they suggest we all send to our lists. In my words it goes something like “Dear list member…I’ve attended a $10k ticket seminar and it blew me away…blah blah….” So once I saw that they recommend I lie to my list members well Fallon and his crew lost me for ever. The fact you wrote that you didn’t attend the seminar was the only hope I have that you just might be on the right side of the fence but really I doubt it.

  I expect this won’t be moderated to air on your site, if it is then maybe you will get a vote of confidence from me, but that’s not what you need…you need the commissions from my AC purchase which is never going to happen. If you ever did have a good name in IM you’re about to ruin it I suspect.

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.11 09:33, Eric said:
    

    First, it’s not a “trick”. It’s a product review.

    Also I didn’t say I wasn’t at the event. I WAS there… what I said was that I didn’t pay $10k. That was a sticking point for me too. I don’t like that they were trying to make it sound like I paid $10k, when in actuality I don’t think anyone there paid full price. That’s in contrast to say for instance, Mike Filsaime’s 7 Figure event that I attended, where I met a LOT of people who paid the full $5k price to be there.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.11 10:44, Joanne said:
  

  Hi Eric,

  It’s amazing all the posts you’ve gotten on this subject. Thank you for posting them and taking the time to answer these posts. And thanks to everyone else who has posted.

  I’m glad the launch got delayed. Things happen for a reason. I was all excited about this product but I’m a newbie and after reading all these posts I’ve decided that before I learn to make $100,000 a day I need to learn to make $100 a day. SEO and Traffic is my biggest obstacle (as is everyone’s!) and I’m going to spend the next four weeks focusing on learning and testing with the info I have. The next product I buy will be from you or through your links because I truly appreciate all you’ve done.

  Thank you Eric. Merry Christmas and God bless you and your family.

  Joanne

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.11 12:55, Zach said:
  

  Hi Eric,
  Aymen mentioned that the basic jist to AC is channeling potential customers from PPC to CPA networks, then ramping up the ROI, etc.

  However, after looking at the google adwords affiliate policy; it read:

  “We do not allow data entry affiliates to use AdWords advertising, but all other affiliates may participate in the AdWords program. However, we monitor and don’t allow the following:

  Redirect URLs: Ads that contain URLs that automatically redirect to the parent company.
  Bridge Pages: Ads for web pages that act as an intermediary, whose sole purpose is to link or redirect traffic to the parent company.
  Framing: Ads for web pages that replicate the look and feel of a parent site. Your site should not mirror (be similar or nearly identical in appearance to) your parent company’s or any other advertiser’s site.”

  Based on this policy, it doesn’t seem that google approves. Your take?
  Thanks again, this has been a marvelous forum and you are to be commended.

  Zach

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.11 14:43, Eric said:
    

    First, some of their methods are perfectly OK within Google’s TOS.

    Then, I’d say some of them are grey, and some would seem to break the TOS.

    However, they (Aymen and co.) say they have talked to google reps many times, and have either been told it’s OK, or basically implied that it’s sort of a “don’t ask don’t tell” policy. In other words, the policy exists to prevent abusers, but their experience is that Google has been fine with allowing their methods.

    It’s a fine line… as so much of internet marketing is.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.11 14:36, G. said:
  

  (It would be great to get an answer to Zach’s inquiry…)

  He brings up a good reason why this is NOT for newbies, and that is B/C we get stuck not just on technical things, but also on what to do when things like “policies’ come up in which we have no reference for what to do or how to correct it.

  But anyway…

  I don’t know why it keeps happening, but one obvious reason for backlash is the simple fact that nearly all products are marketed to all levels of experience when they never should be.

  I mean, why do all of the marketers do this?

  True marketing is about segmentation. SO in this example, a product like this one is not for “everyone,” so it is asking for trouble going ahead and marketing it as such.

  B/C there will be rare individuals who are true newbies and will learn this system, have the available cash to implement, track, follow, tweak Etc. and get to profitability that can then be ramped up.

  But having said that, I admire you so much Eric, B/C you started off this post by giving us your review and honest opinion about who you think can benefit most from AC.

  I visit many blogs and websites daily, and I have to say that out of all of them, you receive the most hateful personal attacks of anyone I have come across!

  It is beyond ridiculous!

  You don’t deserve any of it!

  The first obviously ridiculous assertion is that you are a money-hungry animal that is taking advantage of the lowly beginners and practically snatching away their grocery money.

  I’d laugh if it weren’t actually serious…

  Hello people…

  Let’s go over business basics: In order to make money, you have to sell something.

  So let me get this straight, Eric isn’t allowed to offer anything to anyone, B/C you are offended by the effort?

  Hogwash!

  Eric, you just remember that you have people like me who understand and appreciate your work, your relationship with us, and your integrity.

  We will keep visiting and buying as long as you care to continue in what sometimes may feel like a hostile war environment.

  Geez!

  The haters that visit here obviously have too much time on their hands,a nd are folks who like to blame others for their unfulfilled existences, I guess…

  Rock on, Eric…

  ANd although I haven’t “made it” quite yet, I WILL “see you at the top” one day!

  G.

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.11 14:44, Eric said:
    

    G- I have now replied to Zach… and thanks for the comments

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.11 15:09, Amy said:
  

  Arbitrage is not simply a get rich idea whose time has passed. I’ve been doing it as a “side” thing for most of a decade. I hit the ceiling 3 years ago at just over 7 figure net per year. I’m self-taught and have not been able to figure out how to scale it to a larger level. Let me explain one of the issues: merchants routinely pull CPA offers without notice. This is true of any of the dozen networks I am in. Sometimes there are temporary downtimes. Other times they have reached a quota for a campaign or determine it’s not producing sufficient ROI. I’ve found that to reach the 7 figure a year mark with arbitrage, I’ve had to limit my daily spending for any individual offer to $500 and for any individual network (I’ve experiences with entire networks going down) to $2000. I also had software programmed that will check every 15 minutes every CPA offer lander I am promoting to make sure the offer has not been pulled. (It stores the previous version of the page and compares it. If there is a change or the URL doesn’t respond, it sends me a text alert.) If all this course does is help me figure out how I can reduce the downside by pointing out whatever it is that I’m missing, it is money spent that I can recoup in a single DAY.

  For those that think the bad economy is negatively impacting arbitrage - think again. I’m seeing more and more companies start to make use of CPA. In the niches I am in, I am not seeing more competitors on the advertising side. In fact, my average CPC has gone down. Even if 2000 people sign up for this program and actually implement it, it is definitely not going to saturate the market. It likely won’t even impact what I’m doing.

  I think Aymen’s reason for doing this is pretty straightforward - he will be launching his own CPA network. Having a pool of trained people to promote offers makes perfect sense. I don’t know what the breakdowns are as far as split between payout to affiiates and CPA networks themselves but let’s say it averages for every $1 spent, Aymen would get 40% of it. If he has 500 people each generating an average of $1000 a day gross for his network, that is 500,000 a day and $200k gross profit. If his own ceiling for scalability is the 100k mark, this means he can literally triple his daily income just by showing people how to do a fraction of what he’s doing. Everyone in arbitrage WILL hit a ceiling at some point. So his releasing this program makes perfect sense.

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.11 16:39, Dez Futak said:
    

    Hi Amy - thanks for offering your insights. It might help people understand why this is potentially a win-win for both Aymen & those people who decide to fork out the money needed for the 12 week course.

    Your answer is particularly useful in clarifying the paradox of why-is-he-giving-it-away. Not only could he triple his daily income eventually, for the fist time, if he CPA really succeeds, he’ll be able to make the deals & call the shots, rather than being subject to the unpredictable experience you so aptly describe above (& thanks for writing about how it’s worked for you).

    I wonder what the existing CPAs will be thinking about all this?

    I wonder how many of who’ve written something on this page will actually get involved, at the end of the day. At the moment, I’m just starting out in business, and my cashflow is really tight so I don’t know if I can pull the necessary rabbit out of the hat…

    Best regards,

    Dez.

    [Reply]
    • At 2008.12.11 19:25, Amy said:
      

      After posting I realized I forgot 2 important benefits of him going forward with his own network - things that may easily result in him doubling the revenue I mentioned above.

      1. He’ll likely use advertisers from his own CPA network for his own arbitrage efforts. Instead of losing x% to another CPA network, he’ll be keeping it all.

      2. He’ll get to see first hand what campaigns and landers are converting best. This will cut the testing curve down substantially for him.

      [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.11 16:42, Mark said:
    

    Great post Amy. With your experience and success, I think you should create a course (for less than the $2000 AC costs of course ;).

    [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.12 09:17, David G said:
    

    Hi,

    I was wondering if I can’t get the 2000 together for arbitrageconspiracy, is there another PPC CPA coach or mentor you would recommend? I have been following this from the beginning and have been really impressed mainly because of the step by step video tutorials which is always works best for me. I am not new to business but new to the PPC world and want to find a way to learn these techniques. I have signed up with 4 networks already using the techniques that Aymen suggested and I am ready to go to the next step. Please let me know what your opinion is from someone that is obviously respected in the PPC CPA world.

    [Reply]
    • At 2008.12.12 10:33, Eric said:
      

      I learned PPC from Chris Carpenter’s Google Cash, which would be a fairly inexpensive option for a basic education (it focuses more on CPS than CPA).

      Alex Goad’s Affiliate Payload offers some education in CPA, including sneaky tactics, also for a cheap price.

      A higher end mentor would be Gauher Chaudhry, whose techniques were adopted by Aymen. I think Gauher is relaunching his program in Feb (rumored to be around the $1k price).

      If you’re looking for more of a “coach”, Perry Marshall is the name that comes to mind. One of the foremost Adwords experts, I met him when I produced the next internet millionaire.

      [Reply]
      • At 2009.09.07 21:58, cpa ninja said:
        

        i would be interested who told you aymen adopted his techniques from gaugher other than gaugher.

        [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.14 07:59, Todd Wetzelberger said:
    

    amy, do you do any consults?

    [Reply]
    • At 2008.12.16 02:35, Amy said:
      

      Todd, Not any more. I spent a lot of years as a marketing consultant. This was how I learned a lot of what I did. I went to look at your site but it wasn’t responding. I wanted to get an idea of what you do now.

      [Reply]
• At 2008.12.11 16:40, Dez Futak said:
  

  sorry abt the typo

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.11 20:06, Francois said:
  

  HI Eric, hope this post finds you well.
  I do not know where else to ask this
  Question:
  Do you know about or recommend
  “blogi360.com”
  I’m so “not” techie, I could not figure out your adsense template course you
  did awhile back.
  They say blogi360 is push button easy, is it?
  Thanks again for taking the time to answer.
  Much appreciated.
  Regards,
  Francois
  PS: Merry Christmas

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.11 21:09, Eric said:
    

    I am not familiar with it. E

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.11 20:08, Ron said:
  

  Yes!
  I purchased the Arbitrage Conspiracy course and am brushing up on Excel in anticipation of mastering this. Frankly, learning this is just another step in my successful journey as an internet marketer. Pushing oneself forward and out of the comfort zone is how you learn … at least that’s how I learn.

  Frankly, earning that kind of money will be nice but, sharing with my own clients ideas and methods that work and are proven to work brings me the most satisfaction. I’m grateful every day that I’m able to do that.

  Thankfully, I’ve got a lot more clients who - even though they’ve been knocked down as often as I have - still remain steadfast that online success is there for the taking. Because I’ve discovered that anything worth doing in life will have it’s challenges. All you need to achieve those goals is to keep going. Don’t stop. Don’t bitch and complain. Just keep learning and doing.

  [Reply]
  • At 2009.01.01 09:54, Ron Berg said:
    

    From one Ron to another, Happy New Year!

    Ron, I’m with you: Keep learning and Improving.

    Btw, where are you located? I’m in Fair Lawn, NJ.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.11 21:09, Eric said:
  

  Cool! I look forward to hearing how it goes for you.

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.11 23:36, Jeff said:
  

  Is it true that Aymen spends $250k to make $50k profit? So in order to make $20 profit, I’m going to have to spend $100 - a terrible ROI in my opinion for cpa/ppc.

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.12 10:24, Eric said:
    

    I’m not sure, but I thought I heard something about 30-50% ROI, which would mean he would spend more like $100k to make $50k…

    I’m not sure… I’ve always aimed for 50-100% ROI in PPC, but I don’t know what it’s like at Aymen’s level yet. One thing to keep in mind though is even if it’s 20% ROI that’s still better than most businesses including fortune 500 companies.

    [Reply]
    • At 2008.12.12 11:49, Jeff said:
      

      AC has still been overhyped with that low of ROI (20 to 50%) and with the amount of advertising being spent - you are going to have do monitoring of everything 24 hours a day. It certainly doesn’t sound like you can spend 3 hours a day using this method and have it on autopilot the rest of the day. What happens if your website goes down? What happens if the CPA network tracking goes down? What happens if your cpa network scrubs your leads or decides not to pay you because the leads aren’t backing out? It sounds like you are taking on a lot of risk with such a low ROI (and a lot of campaigns). This isn’t for the timid.

      [Reply]
• At 2008.12.12 00:15, Nick said:
  

  Hey Eric,
  I am still very new at this except for running adwords campaigns. I still don’t know how to build a website or a landing page, I just got my first reseller hosting account at HostGator and I’m not sure what to do with it, I’m reading your tips but I still don’t know how to do the whole deal. If I thought I could put the Arbitrage to good use I would but I think I would be in over my head at this point.
  I still feel clueless when it comes to taking all your tips into action. Don’t get me wrong! I have learned alot about internet marketing, I just can’t seem to take that next step when it comes to actually building the sites and the landing pages and then getting them and my hosting account and my website all working together? Help anyone!

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.12 08:10, Jeff said:
  

  What is Aymen’s ROI? How much money is he spending to bring in 50k profit/day?

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.12 12:49, Michaela said:
  

  Hi! I did a lot of thinking prior to write this. I try to posted from Firefox and the avatar wasn’t pick up, I try again from Microsoft browser.

  First, in a month of giving, with so many holidays coming, when almost every Internet Marketer is a creator, a contributor or a member of giveaway, I am not comfortable with the price Aymen want for the AC, is very valuable, probably, but he can wait until the end of January.

  Second, the business is business and the fact that I am not comfortable it is not as important. Like everybody else, I am curious to see this product, even though nobody can give us a realistic view, because nobody see it, try it, and also it is an excuse for failure,… a lot of work to do, we wasn’t able to muster, that work!
  Well, if I generate traffic with Web 2.0 this means I am not afraid of hard work, but I am afraid of lack of info about AC.

  Third, this is what I have decided. I cannot afford 2k for AC. But I sign up as an affiliate for AC, and if I am lucky enough to have 3 buyers, next month I can afford to buy AC.

  Forth. Now telling you this, in Eric’s tips, can sound as I create concurrence for Eric. I don’t think this way as:
  - The people that were determined to buy it they already did, and still can use Eric’s Affiliate URL not mine, especially as I don’t offer flamboyant bonuses.
  - There are a lot of people promoting AC, those days everybody is on the list of everybody else, and people chose with some degree of subjectivity anyway
  - In the same time, we here on Eric’s tips begin to know each other and we already are a fun and a good community. Maybe I am lucky to find out 3 people what will use my Affiliate URL just to help me when they decide to buy the products for themselves.

  Fifth, Eric, if you consider that what I am doing it is not right, please delete this comment, it is you choice. If you decide not to delete my message, I promise that as soon as I have 3 buyers, regardless if they are from here or from my other advertising, I’ll let you know, and you can delete this message. I am not doing this to make a lot of money; I am doing it only to make money to buy AC.
  This is fair? Let me know, whatever your decision will be, I’ll remain a good student of Eric’s tips, no hard filling.
  You see, I started to think as a marketer, and it is your merit and also I learned from you to be honest telling people: what I am doing, and way I am doing it!

  This is my affiliate URL:
  http://www.mc-ebay-resources.com/recommends/AC

  Michaela

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.12 14:13, stan said:
  

  Eric,
  Great review and nice comments too.

  You mentioned somewhere to build sites know HTML. I know HTML, css, php to some extent. But it is difficult to manually keep doing it.

  Do you recommend for affiliate sites or landing pages: wordpress or xsitepro or LPgen ( for landing pages)

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.12 19:48, Eric said:
    

    I typically make basic landing pages with HTML. But I’ve been using Wordpress a lot lately, I’ve found it can be used in many situations.

    XSitePro is a good sitebuilder if that’s what you’re looking for. I talked about it in a recent lesson.

    I have not yet used LPgen, but I may try it, as it is highly recommended by some PPC gurus.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.12 16:22, Zach said:
  

  Hi Eric,
  What areas or programs do you recommend to brush up on before starting the AC course? Are we putting the AC techniques into effect during our training? If so, I guess I better sign up with a CPA network!
  Thanks again.
  Zach

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.12 19:51, Eric said:
    

    The main skills I’d say would be… making a basic HTML landing page, and uploading it. Copying and pasting code onto pages. Installing scripts. Doing niche research. Familiarize yourself with Adwords, Yahoo and MSN. You could sign up with some CPA networks.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.12 20:22, Dez Futak said:
  

  Hi Eric - I’m still trying to make up my mind about this. Just out of interest, are you joining up with the program yourself?

  Cheers,

  Dez.

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.12 22:10, Eric said:
    

    As an invited partner I get a free membership, so I’ll definitely be following it. As I mentioned in my testimonial on their sales page, I already spend a lot of money on PPC, so for me its a matter of ramping it up to the next level.

    [Reply]
    • At 2008.12.13 06:42, Dez Futak said:
      

      Hi Eric - thanks for the reply.

      To summarize then, does it work something like this? :

      ***PLEASE NOTE TO EVERYONE: I’m not saying it *does* work like this at all - I’m just trying to get my head around the cashflow, so I’ve laid it out in number form so I can get feedback from peeps (not just Eric). I’m not new to many of the ideas, but I have no experience yet with Adwords/PPC as I’ve been focussing on skilling up in other areas.

      On its primary level, The AC PPC works like any other PPC:

      1) you invest money on a high profile PPC ad on Yahoo/Google etc based on a hot-search term.

      2) 50% of the people click on your link as it’s at the top of the search engine.Let’s say everytime they click, you pay the search engines $10 & 2000 people click. So you owe the search engines $20k

      3) Once those 2000 people click, they’re taking to a landing page that you’ve created which has compelling content, offering them some of the relevant offers from the companies who have deals with the CPA networks. Some of these offers might just be persuading the viewers to sign up for info, others might be free products etc.

      4)Let’s say 25% of the 2000 click through on these offers, ie 500, and on average you gain $50 for each action taken, so you get $25000

      5) So your net gain is $25000 - $20000 = $5000

      6) The AC takes it to a higher level however, because Aymen has worked out a way to harvest the most profitable CPA offers for internet marketers, combined with some as-yet uknown tricks/skills that are part of his training, so in fact the numbers above are in comparison, laughable.

      My primary question is this really - to start with, how much spare cashflow will I need at any given moment? Obvioulsy as I get more skilled with the AC system, I’ll hopefully be making more money & losing less. What really makes me willing to consider this offer seriously are two things:

      - The assurance of full, detailed on-going training (via video tutorials etc)

      2)The money-back guarantee.

      If people could feedback I’d appreciate it - especially advice on what sort of buffer is needed typically, when you’re starting out.

      Cheers,
      Dez.

      [Reply]
• At 2008.12.12 23:11, Zach said:
  

  Eric,
  You mentioned that you could create landing pages using wordpress - I thought that was for blogs?

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.13 01:35, Ron said:
  

  Hi,

  This is maybe a little off topic at this point but earlier on - it was mentioned about being a good Christian. How a good Christian should not sell stuff to newbies or whatever.

  I’m a Christian and I’m an I.M.

  1. I’d like to explain to you (basically) what a Christian is according to the Good Book. It’s a person who is in need of help and knows it. Further, becoming a Christian does not make a person “good” or “perfect” and they still remain in need of help everyday. The great part of being a Christian is they have Jesus Christ to lean on. The best part is that a Christian knows, without a doubt, That Jesus Christ died for their sins, paid the price and made it possible for them to enter Heaven.

  I’m an internet marketer who sells stuff to anyone who wishes to purchase it. I offer a guarantee and honor it but, that’s got nothing to do with my being a Christian. That’s just good business practise. Every IM marketer I know who is worth his salt does the same. Does it mean that everyone I sell stuff to is going to make use of it? No. I guess there are a lot of reasons why. Maybe it’s information overload. Maybe it’s laziness. I don’t know. So getting down on “Gurus” for selling stuff to newbies is really kind of dumb. First off, all these gurus used to be newbies. They all started out in the same place - at the bottom.

  I didn’t do much trail blazing to learn this business and I still don’t. If someone is offering to teach me something I don’t know about and I want to learn - I purchase that training and learn it.

  Have I bought junk that didn’t work? Yep! Especially in the beginning. It’s a learning process. As long as you don’t let setbacks stop you - You can succeed online. Aymen is a good example of that.

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.13 03:36, Joe said:
  

  Eric,
  I have a few questions, RE: Arb. Consp.
  1. Will they have a second 12 Week Course
  2. What’s the total necessary capital investment -tools, fees, invest…..
  3. Will you be taking the training?
  4. Will you had a feedback page for the those who took the course?
  Sorry for all the Q’s

  Thanks in advance, Joe

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.13 06:22, Joe said:
  

  Hi Eric,
  I have a few questions, maybe you might have an idea…
  -Do you know if they’re offering a second 12 Week Course after the 1st one?
  -Do you know how much investment capital would be needed?
  …Website fees, Tools, Programs, etc…
  -Will you have a review page of the actual course?

  Thanks, Joe

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.13 09:13, John said:
  

  In the AC’s SUBSCRIPTION TERMS:
  ‘Use of the Arbitrage Conspiracy WebSite equires the payment of a monthly subscription service. Each user agrees to pay to Iron Empire
  Holding, LLC a monthly subscription fee, in advance, via Pay Pal, credit card or other method from time to time established by Iron Empire Holding, LLC , for each month’s use of the Arbitrage Conspiracy WebSite. Each user authorizes Iron Empire Holding, LLC to automatically debit the payment source or mechanism associated with his or her registered account for each monthly subscription fee. Monthly subscription fees are not refundable for any reason. Automatic debits shall continue unless the user
  terminates the subscription in accordance with these terms and conditions. For termination on the Arbitrage Conspiracy WebSite. To cancel your subscription please send your request to support{at}arbitrageconspiracy {dot} com.’

  I believe it is a one-time payment, but this seems to indicate otherwise.

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.13 09:59, Dez Futak said:
  

  Another thought:

  maybe I can start very small with AC & as I get successful ramp up over time so I’m not having to fork out loads of $$$ to start with……? (apart from the $2k plus other softwares….)

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.13 11:04, Angelina said:
  

  Thank you Eric for that impartial, honest review of Arbitrage Conspiracy. I just wished others who are either newbies or are ill-prepared for the course read your review before buying it. Because the AC sales page was really full of hype and rather tempting for many wishing to make quick money online. In my case, after seeing Brad Fallon’s face, I immediately remembered my experience with Stompernet product he launched just last September 5th this year. Together with his free course I bought 2 upsells and I paid more than $230 during launch. However, still today, 100 days after my card was debited, I have NOT yet received the products I paid for. I have written many emails already to them, but I just a canned reply. Everyday I go to my local post office and I see a lot of packages delivered from all over the world, still my order from Stompernet has not arrived. I have stopped waiting. On the other hand, from a recent firesale, a mere $17 product gave a really decent support email where your complaints are handled professionally. Your lesson “Stop Buying Stuff!” didn’t really sink in to me well enough, but my Stompernet experience did! I think from now on I’ll never buy anything. However, your honest impartial review of any product is really a great help to anyone seeking to weigh for oneself if it’s really the right product to buy. Without it, one is just blind. Keep posting those honest and impartial reviews. They are a rare commidity!

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.13 14:11, gerry said:
  

  Hi,
  I have checked this out and it would appear that I would need to have a big list of traffic to send.
  I have joined a network to build a list and then I might be accepted into this money maker. My list building gives the best chance for success for a newbie like me First things First

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.14 08:16, Graham said:
    

    Hi Guys

    I’ve been in the internet marketing business for 8 years. I was very fortunate that in my first year online I made just under $1 million.

    However I made it by a combination of desperation and good luck, and I learned a lot more than any course could teach me ( there was no course…happily )

    I didnt have a blueprint to follow. I think if I had I may have failed, because some of the things I did were pure instinct and not necessarilly the right things to do, but I learned.

    In my opinion releasing any blueprint to the masses is not a good idea. I dont care what ostensible motives you may have for this, it is always backed up by a hidden agenda.

    I remember may years ago, someone in the UK released a “How to buy bargains at auctions” e-book, about visiting auctions and buying government surplus stocks for a fraction of the price of retail.

    Guess what happened?. Every man and his dog was going to these auctions and buying things above retail because of the competition.

    It completely killed the auction market for years to come.

    You know in honesty, if you read the speil, you have enough info to go out and try this yourself without spending the $2k.

    Howver what many people want is that feeling of being part of a bigger thing, a group or club or whatever. If thats you, you will fail, you will become one of the sheep. However you will feel comforted in the knowledge that you have the possibility of earning the figures suggested. This feeling of false security and comfort is what will lead to your failure.

    You have the concept, now go and do some research into the market. Spend the 12 weeks doing FREE research. Even start a small campaign at a modest ammount. I guarantee that you will learn far more and be far more motivated than you will long term by buying the course.

    Yes you will make some mistakes, but you’ll already be $2k ahead of the game. Thats more profit than most will make.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.14 07:48, Todd Wetzelberger said:
  

  Eric
  I was referred by a comment on Jim Cockrum’s blog. both of you are at the top of my “must read”. I’ve wasted a lot of money on “proven” programs and I have background in starting and running a real estate investing/development business offline.

  I’m getting through the learning curve and will succeed online as I have in my other businesses, but you and Jim have just helped shorten the learning curve. I’ll pass on your tips to everyone I know and will send a broadcast this morning to my list.

  Hopefully I can return the favor.

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.14 09:31, Joe said:
  

  Hi Eric,
  Were you able to pass my message to Aymen?

  This is my only chance!

  Their ad copy states:
  “P.S. - Remember, this is going to be the ONLY time this coaching course is going to be available..”

  Thank you Eric, Joe.

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.14 15:18, Sylvia said:
  

  Eric,
  I can’t quite wrap my head around this . . . my pleasant web surfing times, finding information, doing research, connecting with other people, is beginning to be saturated with ads from people I just don’t want to see: home depot, chevrolet, gillette. I immediately steer away from pages carrying this type of annoyances. I can find what I want somewhere else.

  This is what a lot of people do. How do I know? I transcribe market research focus groups, and I recently did one on internet usage. A vast majority of people can’t stand corporate advertising on the web. I think you guys are killing the goose with the golden egg by selling (I decided against ‘whoring’ because such strong language is not conducive to holiday cheer) off the internet to huge multinational corporations who just can’t stand to have people thinking or buying independently.
  I’m very curious as to whether you will publish my comment, and more curious as to your response. I think you guys better check yourselves before you wreck yourselves, as they say.

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.15 01:58, julie said:
  

  Ok. I am reading these posts on the 14th and the product launched on the 11th. They are only selling 500 right? Are you telling me that those 500 have not sold yet? What a joke, these are the marketing ploys that we are taught to do to others yet we fall for them ourselves! This guy is a Christian yet lies on his website and the emails he askes affiliates to send out about attending a 10K event they never attended? This guy is started a CPA network but will not share his name? I hate to say it Eric but I really think you need to re-consider saying someone is a Christian in your posts until after you see the fruit as you may intise a fellow believer to buy based on a remark like that. I have been tempted to lie to make money but I have a Lord to answer to and I will not do it. I would rather not sell my soul for a few bucks and hurt real people with my lies as people are people and hurting financially at times and these people are laughing all the way to the bank with their ad copy directed to sell a dream. I am not saying anything about the product, but the ad copy and every thing else has seemed underhanded like usual…the things I fell for before I saw the pattern. I am curious to see how long they will be selling thier last 500 copies.

  [Reply]
  • At 2008.12.18 05:29, Amy said:
    

    The inside word is that they’ve sold 3.5x that. I don’t recall hearing the 500 figure. I do know they are doing a second launch soon with some bonuses thrown in.

    [Reply]
    • At 2008.12.21 05:58, Joe said:
      

      Hi Amy,
      If you don’t mind me asking, when did you here this and from whom?
      I’m considering taking the course if their offering it a 2nd time.

      Thanks, Joe

      [Reply]
      • At 2008.12.23 17:53, Amy said:
        

        They have been sending updates out to affiliates. One of the updates included the leaders sales wise and gross sales. The relaunch was actually just a continuation of the original one.

        [Reply]
• At 2008.12.18 23:53, Against Video Spam Pollution - Beware the Time Parasites :: said:
  

  […] the obvious pun). To give but a single example - recently, a commentator on Eric Holmlund’s blog put it this way: At 2008.12.10 10:50, Kenneth Washington http://www.listvalet.com/ said: I’m […]

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.19 01:33, Arbitrage Conspiracy - Another Pump and Dump Scam? at Supercharge YOUR money said:
  

  […] from someone else who purports to have been at the Vegas seminar and by default must be an internet guru. This guy Eric does suggest buying the product though. […]

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.20 21:09, RKMailer said:
  

  I fully agree with Eric that it’s not really good for newbies (because, I tried with my Free Classified Ads) but, would be helpful for internet marketers who already got some knowledge in PPC and to enhance their business to next level.

  Thanks,
  RKMailer

  [Reply]
• At 2008.12.21 00:26, Ken said:
  

  Given the recent Bernie Madoff investment scandal, which involved seemingly very smart and successful people getting themselves caught up in a Ponzi run by Madoff, are you absolutely certain that this guy is really making the kind of money that he claims to generate with this “system”?

  [Reply]
  • At 2009.01.03 11:33, Eric said:
    

    Yes I’m certain he’s making the money he claims. But that doesn’t mean you or anyone else will make that much.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.21 20:39, Desi said:
  

  Hello Eric,

  Congrates my friend, I wish you and family a Happy New Year!
  Oh, by the way, your tips have been very informative. I’m about to begin a
  PC Support Business Online. I’ve created an ebook so far but I need a
  professional looking ebook cover for it and I’m in the process of creating
  a website with informative “How to” videos.

  So Eric thank you again, and Congratulations Desi Triplett

  [Reply]
  • At 2009.01.03 11:34, Eric said:
    

    I’ll be doing ebook covers in a lesson, but in the meantime you could always outsource it.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.28 21:41, astromuffy said:
  

  hi, i have lots of start up capital, but no website, no product, and no experience in ppc. i have above average intelligence. would i be able to exploit this opportunity as well as others who have a website? do you know off hand how much of an additional investment is required for the software etc.

  is the training course a once in a lifetime deal, or will it roll around again, and finally, when does it start?

  thanks!

  [Reply]
  • At 2009.01.03 11:36, Eric said:
    

    I would estimate the extra tools at about $1k. Then the main startup costs will be testing campaigns. I believe the course starts this week. I do not know if they will be offering it again.

    [Reply]
• At 2008.12.29 03:39, Frank Bowman said:
  

  Paying $2k for anything like this is ridiculous in my opinion. In fact you can use another well known product out there to accomplish the same thing, and it only costs $97.

  Check it out on my blog MakingMoneyExperts.com

  [Reply]
• At 2009.01.01 08:58, Ray said:
  

  For IM newbies, I think Affiate Payload is more suitable than this $2k course.

  [Reply]
• At 2009.01.03 01:44, Trey said:
  

  Is AC about the same as Carlos and Lupe’s Traffic Tactics? AC gets traffic thru ppc and TT gets traffic thru media buys - right? From these 2 which do you recommend more? I know both depend on calculated risks but which one is safer? better taught? worth my time?

  [Reply]
  • At 2009.01.03 11:45, Eric said:
    

    It is not the same as traffic tactics. Between the two, I would recommend AC. Media buys require more capital (which may be borrowed in some cases). As far as risks… in general I would say PPC (AC) is less risky because you can really start small and scale it up. On the other hand, media buys should not be too risky because any offer you’re sending traffic to should be PRE-tested and PROVEN before your first buy. In other words, you would need to send huge amounts of PPC (ideally cheap, poor quality PPC traffic) or other traffic to your offer BEFORE making a media buy, because you want to optimize it for the mass market. Thus you should know the approximiate results before making the buy, which might be $10k-$100k+ of traffic. And as you may have seen the review on my blog, I do not recommend Traffic Tactics. While Aymen was teaching cutting edge techniques in the seminar I attended, Carlos and Lupe were teaching stuff that was years old when I saw them speak.

    [Reply]
    • At 2009.01.04 05:39, George said:
      

      Hello Eric,

      Thanks for your review. I am a newbie on internet marketing although very successful in other businesses, I am looking to diversify and also new ways to promote my regular business on the internet. I don’t have any problem with the investment, but my question is, do you think it is a good training for somebody new? My concern is mostly time wasted, not money, I learned that good ideas are worth to invest in, what would you suggest?

      George

      [Reply]
      • At 2009.01.04 19:43, Eric said:
        

        If you’re cool with investing $2k+ in your PPC education, I would say absolutely go for it. I can think of no one else who is actively teaching PPC that is more qualified than these guys. I personally have made good money from PPC for the past 3+ years, so I can tell you its a viable business model and most likely worth your time to learn it.

        [Reply]
        • At 2009.01.04 21:21, George said:
          

          Thanks!

          [Reply]
        • At 2009.01.04 21:30, George said:
          

          I am in,

          Thanks

          George

          [Reply]
• At 2009.01.04 14:51, George said:
  

  This is a comment, I think people who complain about a $2,000 investment without knowing what the whole course is all about, it is not smart.

  College education cost tens of thousands, yet, most people according to statistics change careers or just make enough money for a living.

  IF you can learn skils for $2,000 that can teach you skills to earn more than what 99.8% of the population is earning, I am for it!

  My parents spent thousands in my education, however, I followed a different path, invest in seminars and books, people where criticizing me because I was spending in books, seminars and audio/video recordings.

  Today many say I was lucky because I am earning more than 99.5% of the population, close to seven figure a year, in a relative short time for traditional marketing.

  $2,000 is nothing if it teaches only ONE more idea that the $99 courses, that small difference, or what I called the Slight Edge, could earn me millions more!

  I am diversifying my business into the net, and I am willing to invest in it if I want to go to the next stage: Multiple seven figure per year.

  I think was Zig Ziglar who says: “If you feel that education is expensive, try ignorance”

  I will add, “Look at your income, if it is not in the 7 figure per year, then shut up and listen”

  George

  [Reply]
  • At 2009.01.12 15:57, Joshua Scott said:
    

    George, this is the best comment I’ve seen on this arbitrage conspiracy topic!

    At first, I was a little hesitant due to the price but then I compared it to the online college courses that I have taken. The Arbitrage Conspiracy course was a little more than $100 more than a college course. After looking at it that way, I purchased right away! Education is education…and this education has the potential to make me a lot of money. I didn’t get that same feeling with my college courses.

    I feel I’m lucky to have signed up for the course. I’m already through the first week and the material is excellent so far. I don’t regret purchasing it at all.

    By the way, great quote…”Look at your income, if it is not in the 7 figure per year, then shut up and listen”. I’m saving that one.

    [Reply]
• At 2009.01.05 07:10, Andrew said:
  

  Eric,

  Did you ever review the Nitro Blueprint ?

  Thx, Andrew

  [Reply]
• At 2009.01.05 12:55, Robert Aeschbacher said:
  

  I bought Arbitrage Conspirancy 3 days ago.
  I bought it from my home, went to my girlfirend and tried to login for the first time, the login didn’t work altough I used the right id and pw…

  I tried to login from my home pc, no chance.

  I WROTE 3 TIMES TO the AC support, no satisfing answer to my problem. Now I sent out every 2 - 3 hour a mail to them.

  I never bought a such expensive product and I’m already disapointed with their support.

  Maybe should I refound?

  Robert

  [Reply]
  • At 2009.01.06 12:59, Eric said:
    

    No I wouldn’t refund yet, based on that. This is the way these product launches almost always work. They sell a ton in a short period of time and get totally overwhelmed with support. It takes them awhile to catch up. Then they realize they need to repair their reputation, so they hire a huge support staff, and support becomes really good. Why they can’t just hire a bigger support staff to begin with, I have no idea, but I’ve seen it happen a dozen times.

    I do think they will improve though, based on my experience with them so far. I had a couple questions for them, as an affiliate partner. It took them over a week to respond. But since that time, their communication has consistently gotten better and they have become much more responsive.

    [Reply]
• At 2009.01.05 22:38, stan said:
  

  PPC classroom 2.0 was a great course. I spent $77 for the course but did not stay for monthly subscription.
  Total 10 modules and tons of bonuses: great.

  It is unfortunate lot of IM gurus did not promote it probably they were out of loop when anik launched it. Since no money IM gurus did not discuss or promote or review it.

  $2000 too much for PPC education.

  1. wait for ppc classroom
  2. perry marshall book: $47
  would be sufficient.

  [Reply]
• At 2009.01.06 00:47, Leanne said:
  

  Thanx for the review of the AC. I did look at it and consider signimg up. I’m glad I read all the comments that were made re: AC/ After reviewing, I decided this is not for newbies like me. I appreciate all you have taught us up to this point. I did finally get a website up, but I know it needs revisions. I know you are busy with all of your stuff, new baby, holidays, computer issues, etc.. I can’t wait for you to resume your course. However, I was wondering if you would have time to comment on my site? http://www.1159online.com I would value and appreciate any comments you could give. Thanx for your diligence for us newbies. Hope things are settling down for you and your wife and family now. May God Bless!

  [Reply]
• At 2009.01.06 18:18, john walls said:
  

  Eric,
  I just got wind of this, got excited, clicked to buy but got a ‘we’re closed now’ message. What is a buyer to do?
  John

  [Reply]
  • At 2009.01.11 20:47, Eric said:
    

    I’m not sure if they will be opening it back up. I’ll try to find out for you.

    [Reply]
• At 2009.01.08 00:09, Joe said:
  

  What can you tell me about traffic geyser? Does it work? can it been done else where?

  [Reply]
  • At 2009.01.11 20:46, Eric said:
    

    traffic geyser is a good program. You can read my review and case study at:

    http://www.ericstips.com/tips/traffic-geyser-review/

    You can submit your videos without TG, or with other tools, but TG is the best I’ve found to date.

    [Reply]
    • At 2009.01.13 00:21, Tony said:
      

      Eric,

      Thanks for the perspective on the AC. While it’s not for me at this time I do what to start making money online. If you were just starting out, what would you do? Where would you begin? Thanks.

      [Reply]
      • At 2009.01.13 01:57, Eric said:
        

        I learned PPC from Chris Carpenter’s Google Cash, which would be a fairly inexpensive option for a basic education (it focuses more on CPS than CPA).

        Alex Goad’s Affiliate Payload offers some education in CPA, including sneaky tactics, also for a cheap price.

        [Reply]
• At 2009.01.13 16:19, Colby Armstrong said:
  

  I would like to make a comment as someone who has been behind the veil so to speak. I purchased the course and have been studying it for the last 2 weeks. Eric - Please tell me that it gets better. I would not at all call myself a newbie but I do have somewhat of an education on PPC marketing. I am a member of stompernet and have been running some fairly successful PPC campaigns. In two weeks of “learning” from these guys I have not been introduced to one new or interesting concept about PPC, IM, CPA, or any other abbreviation. I bought this course under the guise that this would be the greatest thing that has ever hit the market. I was a believer because some internet marketers whose opinion I trust gave there glowing endorsement of it. Namely Brad Fallon and Eben Pagan. Eric - Please tell me that this will eventually turn into the most mind blowing PPC to CPA course that has ever graced the internet because right now I fell like I got duped. I paid 737 for the first month and right now I feel like I’ve thrown $368.50 right down the tubes. The funny thing is that Jerry West said that the course was too simple and he left in the first 45 minutes. I defended them saying that the people who had stayed were thoroughly impressed by it and I want to git it a try. So Eric - As someone that has see the whole picture. Tell me that this thing gets better. PLEASE!!

  [Reply]
  • At 2009.01.14 00:49, Eric said:
    

    I think it’ll get better.

    As I said at the top of my review, “I can only base this review upon the content that was presented in Vegas, combined with what they are saying the product is going to be.”

    So I do not know exactly what the course will be like… but based on what I saw in Vegas it gets a lot better after they cover the basics. When they got the the “cranking” stage is where I started getting really impressed.

    But of course you can see how you feel by the end of it, and take them up on the guarantee if they don’t deliver.

    [Reply]
• At 2009.01.14 22:42, Tony said:
  

  Eric,

  Thanks for the recos!!

  Tony

  [Reply]
• At 2009.02.01 00:20, Rick said:
  

  Well so far I am peeved. No course materials. Sometimes PDFs of each video only contain the title of the video. They must be kidding. No Pdf is longer than 3 or 4 pages and with virtually nothing in them. Absolutely shocking videos. Cannot SEE any screen shots. The power points are good. Totally unprofessional in presentation. Still waiting for the true grit and we are 4 weeks in to the course.
  Didn’t buy through you Eric.
  Can only hope the guts of the program comes soon. Have learnt a bit but for $2000 ….am I peeved.

  [Reply]
  • At 2009.02.01 18:38, Eric said:
    

    I personally feel like they are delivering plenty of value in the videos. But maybe I knew less going into it than a lot of marketers… I’m not sure. Thanks for the comments.

    [Reply]
• At 2009.02.02 00:58, Rick said:
  

  Eric
  I feel a bit disgusted with myself regarding my post above. Got me in bad moment.
  I think I had best give it a bit more time before thinking about trashing it. That is only fair. Please delete my posts.
  Rick

  [Reply]
  • At 2009.02.02 22:01, Eric said:
    

    Hey Rick, I can delete them if you really want. But since you posted anonymously, I think its fine to keep them. You paid good money for the course, so it’s only fair that you can give your impressions of it.. even if it’s premature to judge the overall.

    [Reply]
• At 2009.02.02 13:16, Joe Starrs said:
  

  I’ve been receiving your tips for a few weeks. Generally, as this blog post, good information. Thank you for that. I’m in my sixties, so I’ve been around awhile. I’m a radio broadcaster, writer and producer and successful copywriter. I paid the $2K for Arbitrage Conspiracy. I just cancelled after the 4th week. Here’s why. Aymen does not teach the material. Instead he has a flunky presenting the materials. It is, without doubt, the worst presentation I have ever heard. He pounds on the desk, snorts, smacks his lips, coughs, sips water, stutters, repeats himself over and over. He rushes his speaking, and in the process mumbles most of the time. He sounds like a razor blade salesman with a mouth full of samples. He gets totally lost in his train of thought and sounds like he’s stoned on something. He sounds very young and inexperienced. The material is presented in 5 to 9 video clips per week done in flash. All that is presented are a series of bullet points that he loves to underline, circle and write stuff all over the bullets. Everything is totally generalized. Any practicals lead to screen shots impossible to read, and he never really completes any actual forms as a practical demonstration. Those that are presented are vague and so general they are of no use whatsoever. They keep hyping the course with, “don’t worry about that now; (current subject matter) it’s all covered in week four.” (Down the road). When you get to week four, it is never delivered as promised. All the videos each week are no more than 5 to 17 minutes maximum each. They invite questions, but never answer them directly, if at all. Their customer support is a total joke. Questions get answered in the same generalize vague manner with no useful information. I had to email four times before the customer support person understood what I was asking, and finally when they did, they said, “that’s coming up in week 7.” They spend more time on further hype and answer a few general questions each week in the “Q&A”. He keeps stroking himself as to how great he is, and that all you have to do is “crank, ramp, and bank” but never tells the details of how to do that. For newbie’s to the internet, this is way over their heads. They present HTML code like “random ad rotator” and never explain how to set that up in Google. This course is a travesty and embarrassment. The presenter is nearly impossible to handle listening to. If I were you, (just a suggestion) I would withdraw your recommendation in a New York minute. Totally ridiculous. Good luck. Yours to success, Joe.

  [Reply]
  • At 2009.02.02 22:05, Eric said:
    

    Thanks for the comments. I still think the content is well worth the price, but I can understand some of your frustrations. I believe the guy on the videos is Aymen’s biz partner Emmanuel, who is actually the guy who creates most of the campaigns… so he’s as much or more qualified than Aymen to do it.

    [Reply]
• At 2009.02.02 23:49, Rick said:
  

  I would rather have Emmanuel doing the presentation than Aymen. Emmanuel does not assume our knowledge as much as Aymen does. Emmanuel is also clearer and not as fast as Aymen. He is also more ordered than Aymen.
  I think the course is improving. Each week seems to be a bit better than the previous. I have the benefit of belonging to a private forum that is dedicated to AC so we do have help from other quarters.
  I will sit through all this course and actually put it into action before I make another comment. I actually really enjoyed this weeks lessons.I will give it a fair test.
  I will leave my comment but I do now believe I was a bit premature.

  [Reply]
  • At 2009.02.26 15:02, Karen said:
    

    Rick, I would like to join your private AC forum; I am behind and discouraged.

    [Reply]
• At 2009.02.04 13:41, mark said:
  

  Is there anything radically different in this 100k course if someone had already done ppc and the stompernet course? Many ebooks cover the same ground.

  [Reply]
  • At 2009.02.04 14:03, Eric said:
    

    I’ve never seen it covered in an ebook, and I don’t think it was covered in stomper. The main difference is… other courses tell you how to do PPC, whereas this course tells you how to scale your PPC to a high level.

    [Reply]
• At 2009.02.08 13:13, Dez Futak said:
  

  Well, I’ve been doing the course for 5 weeks now, and whilst I can understand how Emmanuel’s presentation & delivery may not appeal to everyone, I *am* impressed with the course in terms of the knowledge & skills it teaching me. Whilst I am quite ‘nerdy’ & am used to doing technical stuff with computers (Google ‘Project Galileo astronomy’ for more info - 1st link), I have learned a huge amount of info on PPC from the course so far. I’m not yet in profit, but I was surprised to find that even with very little effort I managed to generate $75 last month on very few campaigns. I spent nearly $400 on advertising, but I was aware that this would probably be the case & I consider it an investment.

  I have a full-time teaching job so I’m doing the course *very* part-time, and I pesonally enjoy the style of the presentations - though I fully understand how for some people it might ‘grate’.

  I think Emmanuel & Aymen have quite a tough job on their hands too, with some people having little computer experience & others with substantial…plus of course, some people who are already quite experienced PPC/search-engine marketers.

  I’ll keep folks posted with my progress on my website at some point…maybe when my hols come up so I can put more time into the course.

  Although it was a big investment, I fully believe that if I implement everything being taught, I will be able to make some pleasant decisions in 2009 regarding future jobs.

  [Reply]
  • At 2009.03.05 23:31, Anna said:
    

    Dez! Newbie here….

    Pls update me of what you learned.
    I need some guides (more like the complete guide, hehe).

    But id appreciate it man.

    Gb…

    [Reply]
• At 2009.02.08 13:14, Dez Futak said:
  

  Please excuse the typos!

  [Reply]
• At 2009.02.16 21:31, Joe Starrs said:
  

  I see there have been no responses from Eric to my previous comments, or from anyone else. Interesting. Why did they stop, with mine as the last submitted Feb 2nd?

  [Reply]
  • At 2009.03.06 21:10, Eric said:
    

    I must not have seen them… I do not check this thread regularly any more.

    [Reply]
• At 2009.02.24 12:36, PPC Classroom 2.0 Review | Eric’s Tips said:
  

  […] when I posted my controversial Arbitrage Conspiracy review a couple months ago, a couple of people left favorable comments about PPC Classroom as an […]

  [Reply]
• At 2009.03.05 23:29, Anna said:
  

  Hi Eric,

  I have decided to be a marketer, but sad to say a newbie marketer one. Would it be ok if i’ll ask qns about IM world? I would really appreciate it, once i go along the way.

  Thanks…
  God bless…

  [Reply]
  • At 2009.03.06 21:10, Eric said:
    

    sure thing. I suggest going through my free lessons, then ask questions in the comment area if needed.

    [Reply]
• At 2009.03.06 16:19, bev said:
  

  It is a load of sh** - the headline states not needing a website or an email list. Guess what they teach in it? How to build an email list and you DO need websites to “ramp up” - yes, a landing page IS a website. It’s to do with the quality score of your adwords.

  [Reply]
  • At 2009.03.06 21:11, Eric said:
    

    I agree about the headline, which is why I mentioned it in my review.

    [Reply]
• At 2009.03.11 03:26, Andy, Send Flowers To Singapore said:
  

  At the launch of Arbitrage Conspiracy, I seriously considered the course and even bounced the idea off a friend to see if he’d like to split the course fee.

  Good thing he wasn’t hot about it, and I wasn’t 100% comfortable with the entire presentation to be honest. It’s too hyped up with all the building up, that makes me concerned. Everything seemed just ‘too easy’.

  I have alot of respect for Brad Fallon for his work in StomperNet and the free high quality SEO stuffs he has given away. I must say, his image in my mind has somewhat been tainted since AC being the front guy for the launch.

  I had the same qs one other member highlighted earlier, ie, somehow the maths just didn’t seem add up, $100k/day and selling a $2k course consuming so much resources. Had Aymen been more upfront about his CPA plan (which yes, he did mention), it would have helped imho.

  [Reply]
  • At 2009.04.06 22:15, Sam said:
    

    Interestingly if you Google Brad and try to go to his site Google has flagged it with “Warning - visiting this web site may harm your computer!”

    Somewhat ironic given what has happened to most people that followed him about the course.

    [Reply]
• At 2009.03.19 10:01, Karen said:
  

  An AC update - wk 11: they have a forum now, but won’t allow negativity. I’ve spent about $1000 on PPC costs and earned less than $200. They ARE teaching AC like we are all newbies at everything, but their support is non-existent for anything you don’t “get” or individual issues. Mine include a POOR history in my adwords acct (from loosing money trying it years ago) which keeps my impressions low and bid prices high. History affects your quality scores and impacts how affiliate networks treat you too (also being rejected by Hydra and others.)

  Since I didn’t jump on getting a refund before the cutoff, now I have to prove I’ve loaded up 2 offers per day, which is incentive to keep trying. But I guess I was “suckered” with the sales copy myself. I agree that this is NOT 2006 and PPC only pays off today when you find that good offer (accidently) and keep squeezing out/arbitraging over the other suckers trying it too. Not that PPC is dead, but only those with guts and money can succeed at it. I learned from this course and needed to learn the tricks to tracking and bidding, but the odds are against us - unless you make friends with a smart affililate mgr and they give you tips on the best offers BEFORE they get old.

  [Reply]
  • At 2009.04.01 21:04, Earl said:
    

    Hi Karen,

    See my comment below - it appears they are not planning on honoring the Money Back Guarantee #2 (as I’ve already sent in my proof and they refuse to respond to my multiple e-mails). I tried to post this on the Forum and they did not post it… no surprise.

    [Reply]
  • At 2009.05.16 14:05, Goran said:
    

    contact me, i can help

    [Reply]
• At 2009.04.01 21:02, Earl said:
  

  I went ahead and invested in Arbitrage Conspiracy, completed the 12 weeks course, following all the instruction they gave. I launched over 170 campaigns and lost $$$. The AC forum survey shows that over 75% of all subscribers lost “alot” of money. Still, AC’s Money Back Guarantee will not apply to most, since the key condition was that students “crank” on average 2 campigns per day for 12 weeks straight, or you cannot apply for the 100% money back Guarantee (#2) + $500 (just for trying…).

  Well, I actually did this, and sent them by e-mail at support@arbitrageconspiracy.com a .pdf file of my logins. They refuse to respond to my inquiries (7 e-mails and counting within the past week…).

  Do you have any suggestions on how I can get my money back or who I can contact? Unfortunately, AC does not publish an address or phone # (just a P.O. Box in the USA, even though the 2 instructors live in Toronto…).

  Thanks in advance for your (or anyone else’s) advice!

  Earl

  [Reply]
  • At 2009.05.16 14:01, Goran said:
    

    Earl, please read my post and contact me via linked in. I would like to help.

    [Reply]
• At 2009.04.06 22:10, Sam said:
  

  Here are some of my comments. I posted these in another blog.

  Its nothing but recycled material with upsells to buy other products… some that do not even work as advertised. It was not worth the price at all.

  Being told to crank offers all day and the money will come just does not work. I hope others do not fall for the hype down the road.

  Has anyone gotten a refund?

  Another thing worth mentioning is the testimonials request they have ongoing. It’s completely unethical to bribe people for a testimonial which they are doing in this case by offering money, cameras etc.

  I am certain these testimonials will be used in the next release to get people to signup therefore scamming people out of a boatload of money again.

  In this case people were asked to write in or video their best testimonial and they could win a prize if their testimonial was selected as one of the best.

  It does not take a genius to figure out that people will write anything to win the prize. Therefore the testimonials could be bogus.

  I could go on more about why this course is a rip off..

  I would say if we do not hear back about a refund the next step might be to contact the FTC or equivalent consumer protection agency in Canada and file a complaint.

  [Reply]
  • At 2009.05.16 14:03, Goran said:
    

    If you haven’t gotten your refund, I can help.

    [Reply]
    • At 2009.05.26 20:34, Sam said:
      

      Thanks I just sent you an invite via linkedin.

      I have the huge report they want filled out documenting everything I did after each day etc.. Like you I don’t want to give them my logins to all my accounts.

      [Reply]
• At 2009.05.16 14:00, Goran said:
  

  I GOT A REFUND!!!Thanks to my AMEX card. I knew that if I was not satisfied with the course that it would take a miracle to get my money back that’s why I saved the link to their “guarantee” and faxed it over to my credit card company. (AMEX is the best to use for these situations plus it also helps if you charge over 100k on their card annually).
  I bought the course because I wanted to see if there really were any methods unknown to me that these guys used in order to create better PPC campaigns.
  MOST and I mean MOST of the campaigns on PPC networks peddle garbage services and products that CHEAT people out of their money. During the course there were numerous examples where they used “email submits” and how they offer legit rewards for people who give up their emails. I tested one of these out FULLY and IT DOES NOT WORK. They capture or try to capture your info and sell it to the highest bidder. You will have to close your email account because of junk mail and time spent trying to get out of it will not be worth the “$25 gift card” they promise you will get.
  Products like “acai berry” need no introduction especially after some unfavorable press came out based on companies who sell these products and charge customers repeatedly without giving them and option to cancel.
  PPC business can work if you or the company you represent is ethical and legitimate business that doesn’t screw people out of their money. The bottom line is if you promote junk products and set up PPC campaigns Google AdWords will blacklist your account. Since I run several online companies and use Gmail, Google Checkout, etc I DO NOT want to ruin my chances by pedaling garbage and put my legitimate businesses in jeopardy.
  The course does have a few key points and good techniques to use if you are an online marketer but they go about it in the wrong way. It definitely is not worth the 2k they are charging. Even though I had made a few bucks (about $165), the time it took and money spent was not worth it. I honestly don’t feel good taking a $35 commission on a weight loss product that will not help the customer, screw them out of their money, and waste their time. I had about $65 of earned commission with Maxbounty.com which I DO NOT want and told them they can keep. After the course was done and I was down about $50 and decided to ask for a refund. After waiting a few weeks I finally got their 18 page “verification” form making sure I did all they asked. They wanted access to my accounts like Adwords which shares passwords with my personal email, and checkout information. WOW, this was not happening especially by AC. This prompted me to call AMEX and tell them to do an investigation and refund my money based on bad business practices and failing to meet their guarantee. I got a call last week from AMEX stating that they will be issuing my refund which of course made me happy and saved me from going further and wasting my time trying to get my money from AC.
  I hope this helps and gives you more insight in what AC really is and hopefully you can get your refund if you bought the course. Good luck on that extra $500 they offer as part of their 125% “iron clad” promise.
  Feel free to contact me via linked in and inquire about any specifics. I do have the whole course on my comp that I downloaded as an insurance policy in case they felt like screwing me out of my money.

  [Reply]
• At 2009.06.21 09:46, Rick said:
  

  Well I finished the AC course and I have never in my life wasted such a large amount of money. Every week was a pitch fest for software with even some lessons purely dedicated to those who bought the software. Their forum is a laugh. Every comment is moderated so there’s no chance of negativity or even constructive criticism.
  I sent them an email to outline my grievances but this was met with silence.
  I tried to get my money back but to no avail. I now hear they are going to do another course but for less $$. They must be joking. How about giving some of their initial guinea pigs back some of their fees.I am still spitting chips at such a huge loss for such a pile of garbage.
  Spend your money with Gauher. The quality is there not with AC which is a pure joke and I am sure they joked all the way to the bank.
  This is my first and last big ticket item. All the hype from people I trusted got me in, but never again.

  [Reply]
  • At 2009.07.06 23:38, Mike said:
    

    I did some research on Brad Fallons site, the central figure behind the launch of AC. Turns out they did 7 million in sales!! Can you believe that!

    The people promoting this course never even looked at it because it did not exist until the course started. Yet they had us all believing it would be great. I have lost all respect for these snake oil sales men and will never buy anything from them again.

    [Reply]
• At 2009.06.29 14:28, RB said:
  

  I think it is absolutely ok to monetize your work as long as you’re honest and upfront about what you are doing. Why shouldn’t he benefit from the labour and hardwork put into building a blog like this? I personally saw the lessons too, and I have to say a lot of work and effort must have gone into compiling them, and lord knows what else is to come if they actually to go up to #120. Bottomline - Business is business and nothing is wrong with that. If we are getting a value-packed exchange then why complain or judge?

  I personally have been cheated many times, and must say that Eric is the most honest genuine down to earth internet marketer I have encountered. In his lessons, when he provides his referral links, he makes it clear that they are his and we have the option of using them. Nobody is forced to and that is made clear from the beginning. Will I use those referral links? Of course, because he has earned my trust, and to me that is different from being brainwashed and misled by a lot of the get rich quick garbage that is out there today.

  I know he is a Christian (I’m a Deist by the way), but I don’t get a vibe of him using that to market his stuff. In fact Christians’ reputations are going to mud as we speak because of a lot of the religious scams out there right now. I think it is as he said, he downplays his Christian background, because that is his personal belief, and he knows not everybody that subscribes to him shares those beliefs or background. I think that is fair and reasonable.

  To Eric - don’t mind the cynics; just see with us, because the reality is there are a lot of dishonest people out there and a lot of us are tired of being doublecrossed by them.

  We are not lazy, in fact I am sure that most of us are very hardworking people in the offline world that are tired of not seeing any true benefits for our endless efforts.

  We just don’t like to be cheated out of our hardearned money. I am sure that if marketers/gurus were just honest and straightforward from jump on their sales page about all the hard facts, I am sure (not all) but a good portion of us would still be willing to sign up upon knowing what we are fully getting ourselves into and what will be truly expected of us (provided we have the capital to of course). In fact if these gurus could only see the truth in that, I am sure they would be earning ten times more than they are earning now, and losing less money to refunds or people discrediting them because of their bad experiences.

  I don’t think you should be blamed or held responsible for the quality of any product your provide a review for, because it is not your product, and you try to be very straight forward in your reviews. Even if it is a friend thing, I am sure people who have their blogs or social networks would promote their friends too, so again I don’t see the wrong in this.

  With that said, cheers and all the best in your future pursuits upon leaving the IM world!

  [Reply]
• At 2009.06.29 21:59, RB said:
  

  My comments are in reference to Eric as an Internet Marketer not the course being reviewed on this page.

  [Reply]
• At 2009.09.01 12:08, Jim said:
  

  Arbitrage Conspiracy is the biggest scam in IM history. Pure garbage start to finish. Eric, you should back out of this as gracefully as possible, it makes you look like a complete fool.

  [Reply]
  • At 2009.09.01 21:46, Eric said:
    

    As mentioned in the review, I reviewed it based on the live presentation that I attended, which was great in my opinion.

    Because of the comments of readers such as yourself, I will not be recommending it again, even though they are doing a re-launch.

    [Reply]
  • At 2009.10.21 21:00, Walt said:
    

    That is not a nice thing to say on both occasions. What makes you the expert?

    [Reply]
• At 2009.09.17 13:02, Robinbird said:
  

  Ok people LISTEN UP
  If you are a Newbie who has between $1000 and $2000 to spend on Pay Per Click instruction, why not do this…. why not find someone who is DOING this successfully, get their help to tutor you, help you get set, etc, with half upfront, half when it pays off?

  Or… instead of jumping into this all upfront $1797 package, get started with books, free online help, etc and see a a smaller cost if the basic work involved is something you are up to, and like enough to put the effort into learning. Eric seems to be way too possitive about this, and admits his “friends” have put out the program…. newbies should not buy this, period. (As a computer tech, I see the learning curve, which even Eric admits is something for the more experienced and funded….not for the broke newbie.

  These kinds of pricey info products (I’ll show you how for a few grand!) ARE get rich quick deals alright… FOR THE SELLERS of the program!
  Steer clear…
  R

  My two cents –

  [Reply]
  • At 2009.10.21 20:57, Walt said:
    

    I am listening… But I don`t hear a thing.

    And now without kidding. I actually heard of some very solid and positive results of people who knew nothing about net marketing and made it happen for themselves. Thanks to the Arbitrage Conspiracy. What about that then?

    I own the course myself. And, if ANYONE thinks it is anywhere near to easy making $100,000.00 per day whit WHATEVER it is you do you need to go see a doctor.

    The course gives it all to you on a silver platter. Those who never made it started to filter their frustrations by kicking at the system. The system never fails. It was and always is the people giving up on it too early or to easy.

    [Reply]
• At 2009.10.22 16:51, Nicholas Conspirator Mancini said:
  

  I have been and AM a member of Arbitrage Conspiracy.

  Yes you need to work and crank campaigns until you get the ones that produce, YES you need to spend (invest) money on PPC, Yes you can fail, Yes you can make good money and I do not mean small change.

  BUT you and only you can make that happen. Capishe? Aymen is not an illiterate like most gurus are (sorry but that is a reality)Aymen offers a system ont a magic button, if you have $500 to $2000 spare money to burn on PPC (plus money to pay for the course GO for it) The course should start in a month and hear that only a few will get in. lat time there were so many frustrated when the doors closed…

  Or forget about it and keep buying Gurus “Crapolla” and be happy because you get what you pay for. Period.

  “What Aymen of Arbitrage Conspiracy is going to announce shortly will be The News of 2009 in Internet Marketing. Nobody has ever come close to what will be unleashed, and many people will be shocked to their very core”

  [Reply]
• At 2009.10.29 01:16, Tim said:
  

  Has anyone seen the latest pdf sales copy? It is the most ultra super mega hyped sales copy of megalomaniacal proportions I’ve ever seen. But that’s what we are educated to produce, is it not? Let’s face the reality and be totally honest, it’s all about conning and manipulating people to hand over all their money. The other reality is that you have to spend mega dollars and every waking moment to achieve the desired results, you pay with your freedom and your life. Corruption is not an option if you want to be successful in today’s world, it is a necessity. AC set the benchmark.

  [Reply]
• At 2010.01.05 15:57, Daveka said:
  

  I was involved in Arbitrage Conspiracy. I put some serious time, effort and money into it but to no avail. The course seemed reasonable enough but I was never able to generate any real results using the techniques taught.

  I abandoned the whole effort and I would not recommend it to others.

  [Reply]
• At 2010.01.20 15:44, Mike said:
  

  Arbitrage Conspiracy is the biggest IM rip-off in history. Stay away from this garbage unless you really enjoy throwing a lot of money away.

  [Reply]
  • At 2010.02.04 12:18, Sorin said:
    

    Thank you for your warning.
    As a beginner in this business and with so much information out there, it’s not easy to find the real information. And when you start in this business and get burnt by something like this, you’re most likely to give up and try to find something else.

    [Reply]